


Beating like a hammer

by PuckB



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Demon!Stiles, Demons, Fluff, Gore, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-28
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-19 18:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 26,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PuckB/pseuds/PuckB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They didn't expect to meet the creatures they learnt about in the Bestiary so soon after learning about them, and they certainly didn't expect those creatures to be something other than shapeshifters. </p><p>In which there is a demon on the run, several unfortunate meetings, something about the apocalypse, lots of blood, and feelings that can't stay hidden forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They're gonna eat me alive

**Author's Note:**

> This is my own interpretation at the demon!Stiles 'trend' that I like way too much. 
> 
> The demons are obviously inspired by Supernatural, however I took some liberties, and you don't need to know SPN to read this.
> 
> All the awards go to [Margaret](http://frenchthecolfer.tumblr.com) who had been the most wonderful beta and without who this story wouldn't exist! Thank you so much for your help and support! 
> 
> The title is from the song _"Help I'm alive"_ by Metric.

 The bestiary was more useful than they could ever imagine. Well for Stiles and Lydia especially, because they were the ones studying it.

It was Stiles who convinced the others to tell Lydia about the whole werewolf thing. When he learned that she could read archaic Latin, he could not stand there without telling her, because it meant she could translate the entire bestiary. Even if they were only interested in it for the Kanima in the first place, Stiles had thought about it and if there were others creatures than werewolves, they needed to know about them, to be ready in case one of them attacked.

Lydia took it remarkably well, and she seemed very excited at the idea of translating the book. Stiles was very excited too, mostly because that meant he got to spend quite some time alone with Lydia. But as soon as they started working, he forgot all about the little romantic scenario he imagined. Two exceptionally clever people in the same room working on the same thing they were both deeply interested in was quite a surprising scene. There were papers on the floors, schematics on the walls and lots of talking. Stiles’ father would not have believed that his son’s bedroom could be more messy than it already was, but Stiles looked like he was having fun and it had been a long time since he has seen the boy like that. Plus there was this lovely girl who came over almost every day, and he knew that Stiles had the biggest crush on her, so he was not going to complain. Or to ask about what they were actually doing…

“How many pages have we translated yet?”

“10? Almost everything about the werewolves and the kanima… After I’ve finished this page I’ll start the vampires.”

“Vampires?” Stiles said, raising one eyebrow. “Derek said vampires don’t exist.”

“Well maybe he just didn’t know about them. Or maybe they don’t exist anymore? Anyway, we still have a lot of pages to translate and classify so we better get back to work.” Lydia smiled.

 

* * *

 

At least once a week, Stiles met with Derek’s pack. They talked about the Argents mostly, what to expect of Gerard (never getting close to the truth of course), and the kanima problem. Then Stiles explained the new stuff they’ve discovered in the bestiary. Most of the things about the werewolves, Derek already knew them. The little information they had about the kanima were not really useful, but still. Then Stiles started talking about the vampires.

“So we’ve finished translating the part about the vampires and they seem pretty real to me. Apparently, the Argents even hunted some of them not so long ago because they made edits on the pages.”

There was a cold silence in the warehouse.

“But vampires aren’t real, right?” said Erica with a tiny voice, almost whispering.

Stiles sighed. How much he would have liked to believe Derek and the idea that only shape shifters were real. But they were quite advanced in their translation now and they had to face the facts. If werewolves were real, why wouldn’t any other supernatural creatures be?

So that night, when all the pack was leaving, and Stiles was walking toward his jeep, he was stopped by an hand on his shoulder.

“Derek. What is it? If I don’t leave now I will miss the curfew.” He said, exasperated.

He turned on his feet to face the alpha.

“If you still don’t believe me about the vampires...”

“No, actually it’s…”

Stiles looked suspiciously at Derek. He had never seen the guy with such a confused expression on his face. Or well, once, when they faced the kanima for the first time, so it wasn’t a very good sign.

“Listen, I still don’t totally believe you… But you need to translate this bestiary quickly. Maybe vampires don’t exist but that doesn’t mean that other creatures don’t. I…”

It was really intriguing, because Derek seemed really worried. He looked like each word had a hard time passing through his throat. Stiles didn’t need super werewolf senses to know that he was being serious.

“My mother. She told me once, when I was a kid that I needed to be careful, because there’s things out there, more dangerous and stronger than us. And I thought she meant the other shape shifters because I’ve always been warned about them. But maybe it was more…”

“Okay…”

For once, Stiles was speechless. It was weird, having Derek telling him something about his past. He never talked about his past. And certainly not his mother, no more than Stiles talked about his. And for a second, he couldn’t help but think about all the time she told him to be careful. She even gave him a tiny bottle of holy water. It was still in his room, along with a box of salt. He never understood the utility of these things. He just kept them because they were a memory of his mother, and because she believed it would keep him safe. From what, he never asked.

 

* * *

 

Somehow, Stiles started believing in fate, because almost every time they finished translating a part of the bestiary about a creature, they would hear about such creature being real in the following days.

Stiles promised himself to never get any pet after seeing the skinwalker. Hopefully this one was not dangerous. He will have a harder time forgetting about the rugaru. Or the Arachne, which he only saw the body, but still… He realized soon enough that there really was more in this world than they could imagine, and that half of it was dangerous. All those creatures were well hidden, but once you knew about them, you start noticing the small details that lead you to them. Hopefully, Beacon hills was quite calm because of the werewolves, but as it happened with the Arachne, sometimes some of them were found outside of town or in an abandoned building. Anyway, the pack was still busy with the kanima, trying to find its master, and there was the Argents, who apparently, despite being specialized in werewolves, had a past of hunting all kind of monsters.

“OK, it’s over for today.” Lydia announced while standing up. “I’ll start translating the next part tomorrow because it’s big. There must be 30 pages about that. I don’t know what it is…”

“I don’t think it can be scarier than the wendigo. I hope we never encounter one of those. Hopefully they don’t live here at all…” said Stiles, piling up papers.

“Oh, maybe not scarier, but more dangerous, that is very possible.” She observed.

Stiles looked at her with wide eyes then sighed. “Stop talking bad luck. See you tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

 

 

The next morning when Stiles arrived at school, late as usual, he was not expecting all the police cars and ambulances. Scott ran toward him, followed by Allison. All the students and personnel were outside the school, and the principal, Gerard, was talking with the policemen. He was agitated, and his face was way more expressive than usual.

“Dude! What happened?” he asked Scott after shaking his head to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

“I don’t know! A guy started attacking another with a fucking knife. There’s blood everywhere in the corridor. They’re not dead but one is bleeding a lot and the other seems burned. Like, I was just there, I saw his face! That was the strangest thing ever. Didn't looked human at all. The other guy punched him and sent him face against the lockers and he started screaming like hell and hold his face in his hands. Then the cops arrived.”

Stiles searched in his head everything they’ve read in the bestiary as fast as he could. What kind of creature would burn by…

“Scott, what are the lockers made of?”

Scott looked at him, surprised.

“What? The lockers? I don’t know. Metal? I don’t know which kind though. Probably Iron.”

Stiles sat on the ground, followed by Scott and Allison who tried not to be seen by her grandfather, but he was too busy talking to the cops.

“So you’re sure this student wasn’t human Scott?”

“Well, except if a human face can start burning out of nothing, yes.”

“I don’t think it’s out of nothing. Are you sure that the other guy didn’t sprayed something in his face? Like pepper?”

“Stiles, man, I’m a werewolf, and even if I wasn’t, I was close. The guy’s face hit the lockers, then he started screaming and there was even this little smoke… But I know he wasn’t human. I could feel it. I’m sure of it.”

“OK. So we have a problem.”

At the same time, Gerard’s voice resonated in the school sound system, announcing that school was suspended for the day, considering the number of student who witnessed the bloody fight and would need at least a day of rest. Stiles stood up and walked toward his jeep, followed by his friends. As he opened the door, he rubbed his head, looked at Scott then at Allison with a desperate face.

“Allison, try to learn as much as possible from Gerard. I’m sure he knows something. Scott, warn Derek and the pack that there is another supernatural scary thing in town. I’m going to call Lydia and we’re going to search into the bestiary for anything with the word iron… I’ll call you as soon as I’ve found something OK?”

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh, Lydia, thank god you answered!”

Stiles was driving toward his house quite slowly because he was half concentrated on what to say to Lydia.

“Were you at school?”

“Yes yes but I couldn’t even enter with all the cars. I tried to find you but there were too many people so I decided to go home. I was sure someone would call me if things were bad. So what happened?”

“A guy face burned at the contact of metal. Not something we know of. Have you started translating the next pages?”

“Yes I did. You won’t believe me when I’ll tell you what it’s about. Seriously. I think this one is a joke because this is definitely not possible.”

“Go on! Nothing can surprise me now! I’m even starting to believe in faeries…”

There was a silence at the other end of the phone. Stiles started accelerating as he arrived close to his house.

“Demons.”

“WHAT?” he choked. For a second, he lost control of his jeep and almost ended up in the side of the road but recovered soon enough.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

“Yes I am. I told you it was crazy. I looked quickly but I don’t think there’s anything about angels though. “

“OK, can you come to my house now?”

“Oh I’m sorry, I can’t. But I’ll work here. I’m sending you what I translated by email. It’s not so much but it’s a beginning. And I’ll send you every page I’ve translated OK?”

Stiles parked his car and ran to his room, not taking the time to take off his shoes or anything. He threw his bag on his bed and jumped on his seat in front of his desk, almost falling doing so. He opened Lydia’s email. It was just a few sentences but as she said, it’s a beginning.

Stiles couldn’t quite believe what he was reading. Actually, he didn’t believe it at all, but he tried too. He had learned with time not to be fooled by the extraordinariness of a creature. He had made this rule: “It exists until proven of the contrary”. Better to be prepared for something that doesn’t exist than not being prepared for something that does. But demons, really? Children of Lucifer apparently, tortured soul in hell who lost all their humanity. Before he knew it, he was searching the whole house for a bible. He knew his mother had one, even if she wasn’t religious. From the living room, he heard his phone alert telling him he got an email. Again, he ran to his room, spent another five minutes searching for his phone under the tonne of paper that strew his bedroom floor, finally found it, realized he could have looked up his emails on his computer, swore and opened the files Lydia has sent him.

Naturally, Scott didn’t answer his phone, neither did Allison. It was time to try who Stiles has been trying to avoid for the past hour: Derek. Strangely, Stiles was a bit anxious about it. He’s never called Derek before. It was always like that with the alpha. You can never guess how he’s going to react. Stiles had never met someone as unpredictable as Derek. He’s quite good at reading people, usually. It’s something he’s always been doing. Looking, analyzing, and trying to understand how other people work because obviously they don’t work like him. It’s like his brain is going too fast. It has something to do with his ADHD, he supposes. Anyway, the problem with Derek is that he doesn’t know what to expect of him. With Scott, it’s easy. He knows exactly how far he can go, how much he can push him before he breaks. With Derek, he has no idea. At first the guy scared him, and he still does sometimes. But some other times it’s almost like he’s nice. And he cares, in his own way, about his pack. Stiles also noticed that he seemed to be almost as talented as him with sarcasm (but no one is as sarcastic as him.). Stiles decided that Derek was in fact two people. The person he really is and the alpha he thinks he should be. Which, in Stiles’ opinion, is not very good for his mental stability. And right at this moment, Stiles didn’t have any idea at how Derek would react to the announcement that demons were real. But since he didn’t really had a choice, he pressed the call button and waited.

He didn’t notice it was this late already. The sun was setting slowly, darkening a sky already covered in clouds. He would not be surprised if a thunderstorm burst during the night. He was sitting on his bed, facing another pile of papers, his computer and the bottle of holy water and salt he had from his mother. Questions surged in his head, another and another, never stopping, each one leading to another, more complex, and none came with an answer. Why did his mother gave him that? Did she knew about demons? Does his dad know? The Argents? Do salt and holy water and iron work? How many are there, what do they want, why didn’t he heard about them sooner? Is he going crazy for actually starting to believe in it? And Derek wasn’t answering either, of course. He put the phone next to him, letting it ring. He’s been working on the bestiary all day, searching and searching again for confirmations, details, mythological background, everything he could find. He almost forgot to eat, which was the ultimate proof of how concentrated he was. He checked the time, and decided that it was time he cooked something. As usual, his father was not going to come home early. He put the phone on his pocket and headed to the kitchen.

 

* * *

 

 

Just as he entered the kitchen, the lights went out. Stiles stood still for a moment before starting to search for a lighter. There must have been one in the kitchen; he vaguely remembered seeing it not so long ago. But as soon as he moved, a violent gust of wind opened the window. Now it was getting scary. Slowly reaching for a meat knife and grabbing it, Stiles turned on himself, trying to distinguish something in the darkness.

“Derek?” he softly called. He was used to find the werewolf waiting in the darkness of his room, but this was a whole new level of creepiness.

“Who’s there?” he tried, a little louder.

A grinding warned him that the door was being opened. He could hear a heavy breathing, and footsteps.

 _Calm down. Calm down! It’s not the moment to have a panic attack! Come on, Stiles!_ _You have a big knife in one hand and your phone ready to call the cops, it's going to be fine._ He hold his phone in his hand but did not dare trying to call since it would make a light and warn the intruder that he was here. He had a choice. Either facing the intruder with his not-so-big-but-still-dangerous kitchen knife or hiding and hoping that he won’t be found. Unfortunately, he has never been a patient person. Stiles took a deep breath and jumped in the corridor, right face to the intruder.

“WHO ARE YOU?” he yelled as he was pointing the knife toward the person, who, strangely, was backed against the wall and seemed to be… bleeding?

At that instant, the lights came back, and Stiles found himself facing an obviously injured boy around his age… The boy from the fight! Stiles didn’t know him but he had very bright hair that no one could miss. They both stood still, staring at each other with deep incomprehension. The boy was bleeding from his nose, mouth and ears but didn’t look like he was harmed anywhere else. The only light was coming from the kitchen, so they were still in a soft darkness and Stiles couldn’t really see his face. He doubted that the student could do him any harm in his state, but he kept his distance, still brandishing the knife.

“What do you want? What happened to you?” Stiles asked, trying to look menacing and scary but probably failing as he never looked menacing or scary not matter how hard he tried.

“You’re the… boy… with the wolves… Aah…”

He was breathing painfully, holding himself like he was trying not to fall, and digging his fingernails in his arms as if the pain would help him not to faint.

At the word “wolves”, Stiles took a step back. How could he know about the werewolves? Stiles didn’t knew him, except from seeing him once in a while at school, he was older, didn’t play lacrosse, and they had never talked. He didn’t even knew his name! This was becoming really weird. Since werewolves had been mentioned, he couldn’t call the cops anymore. He hesitated a second before trying to call Scott, holding the phone in his hand as it rang, never stopping starring at the injured boy.

“The boy is… dying…” Stiles heard a whisper.

“What?”

“He can’t… support me…”

“What are you talking about? Who?”

“This… body, you idiot!”

Stiles stopped moving, eyes and mouth wide open. What the hell was he talking about?

“Hell you’re slow… You should know… about this… huh kind of things… With the werewolves and… all…” As he talked, he has started moving toward Stiles, slowly, still supporting himself against the wall. As he moved, Stiles stepped back, still holding the knife in front of him. Suddenly, the boy was in the light and Stiles could see his face, clearly. There was blood on his neck and shirt, and his face was partly burned and his eyes. His eyes were black. Completely, entirely, black.

“WH-WHA-WHAT THE HELL?”

“A friend of the… werewolves… How lucky… am I…” The demon whispered as he fell on the floor. Stiles was not moving. He didn’t dare. So they were real and one has just trespassed on his house, at night, when he was alone and powerless and couldn’t even access the kitchen to find salt. Hopefully, he’s read a lot of thing during the day, but at the same time, it was not very reassuring to know how demons can possess human bodies. And obviously this body was not doing his host job very well. He checked his phone quickly only to notice that of course, Scott still wasn’t answering his phone. _You’re alone in this, buddy. And this time, I don’t know what’s going to save your ass_. He swallowed hard, closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm his heart beat accelerating with the panic, and said:

“You’re a demon.”

“Clever… boy…” The demon answered, with a small grin drawing on his host’s face.

“What do you want from me? Why me?”

“I just ran to the… first house I saw… from the truck…

“A truck?”

That, Stiles could do, talking. If he kept the demon talking long enough, maybe someone would come. He tried, discreetly, to call Derek. Against such creature, he doubted that anyone but the alpha would have some kind of power.

“The hunters… they were transporting… Huh me…” He coughed some more blood.

“The hunters…? The Argents? They know about… Oh. The bestiary. Of course they know. How could have I been so blind? BUT that’s not the point here! What do you want? I know you creatures are evil and I’m not going to let you sweet talk me into doing whatever you want me to do.”

The demon looked quite surprised, but stayed silent. So Stiles decided it was time to use his main argument, being the knife in his hand.

“See this lovely knife here? It’s a memory from my grand-father. Quite old, really and all made in, guess what? Iron! I understood that you demon didn’t like that thing a lot… So if you try to do anything, I’ll stick this into this boy stomach, which I also understood would kill you.”

He was quite proud of his little speech. It was mostly a lie, he had no idea where the knife came from and if it was in iron or not, but that didn't change the fact that he wouldn't hesitate to stab the demon if needed. From the demon’s wide eyes (if you could call them wide, since they were all black, it was hard to tell.), it made its effect. Except that he started laughing.

“You’re quite a… clever boy… Aren’t you… I can’t do any… thing in this state… They made me eat… salt. I’m already dying… and the other demons they… are searching for… me… I am a… deserter…” 

«  “What are you deserting from?” Stiles started to ask. Questions scrambled around his head. He was thinking so fast it almost hurt.

“The... war… obviously.”

That was new. The government would know, if a war was happening on American soil, certainly. They wouldn’t hide it. But did the government knew about all the supernatural creatures who walk the earth? More questions burst into Stiles’s head. He swallowed before talking, afraid that if he did not take his time, he would start asking about everything that went through his mind and wouldn’t be able to stop.

“OK demon. I have a lot of questions for you, but your answers aren’t more important than my life, because it might not look like it, but I don’t hold the idea of dying now dear in my heart. So tell me quickly why I shouldn’t kill you right now before I decide to do it.”

“You do realize… That if you… Kill me you will… Kill that Boy… too…”

Stiles felt a little upset at those words. Of course he thought about it. Unfortunately for the demon, hanging out with werewolves had changed his priorities. Sometimes, he felt horrible for being able to think these kinds of things. Like... Whising that they could just kill Jackson, for example.

Jackson had bullied him since they met each other, when they were kids, and he wouldn’t miss it. If it was not for the fact that he was a clever human being and was sure Jackson’s death would bring a whole new lot of problems… There was also Lydia, who was so obviously and desperately still in love with Jackson and Stiles would never do that to her. He still cared about her. But this boy, this total stranger who was already dying, against his own life? It would be self-defense anyway. After all, he had trespassed in his house in the middle of the night. He had to do something before his father came back.

He jumped back and hit the wall when the door suddenly opened, revealing a rather furious Derek, eyes glowing red, teeth and fangs out, looking straight to Stiles. Slowly, his gaze followed the blood stains, to finally arrive to the boy. The alpha put his hand against his nose with a disgusted face. Stiles and the demon starred at him, but with very different expression. While Stiles looked confused, the demon seemed to be rather pleased. Walking toward Stiles, Derek coughed and grumbled.

“Stiles. This… This isn’t human. And it smells death.”

“I know” Stiles replied, raising his eyebrows. “It’s a… You won’t believe me. It’s a demon.”

Exactly when he said that, the demon’s eyes became black again, and a huge grin appeared on his host body’s face.

“A pleasure to… Meet you… Alpha…”

Derek stood still, mouth half open and eyes wide. His expression changed with his thought and after a moment, he sighed and turned to face Stiles.

“You got to be kidding me…”

 

* * *

 

Before there could be any debate about whether or not Stiles was becoming crazy or that it was a very bad joke, Derek had asked what could keep the demon from arming them, and as soon as Stiles answered ‘Salt’, the werewolf had ran to the kitchen and came back with several salt pots that he dispersed all around the demon who was still grinning and sometimes muttering things like ‘clever, very clever’ or ‘impressive’. Finally Derek had decided they were safe for now and that Stiles could explain to him what exactly happened.

“I guessed something was weird when you called but all I could hear was muffled voices. Then I smelled the blood, and it is not how blood usually smell. I could tell it wasn’t human. And there were hunters’ cars everywhere, I was not sure I could make it to your house! And now you’re telling me that this… demon came here by chance? I don’t know how you even do that. It’s always you! If one hopeless teenager must find himself in trouble it’s you!”

Apparently, Derek had stopped worrying and was rather angry. It made Stiles laugh. It was quite reassuring, because it meant that they were safe enough for Derek not to have all his attention on the demon. Stiles had explained as simply as he could what happened. After all, the demon was already dying when he entered the house. And now he apparently had passed out, or was sleeping possibly, but his eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving anymore. Only the rough sound of his breath showed that he was still alive.

“Well it’s not my fault if I was born with ‘Welcome dangerous supernatural beings, I exist only to be your perfect victim’ tattooed on my forehead!” (Stiles was only half kidding when he said that because, really, sometimes, it was just as if.) “Now it would be nice to find what to do with him before my father comes back, please. I don’t know how I’m going to explain so many blood stains on the floor. That shit doesn’t go away easily, you know!”

Derek crossed his arms. He had literally no idea what to do. He’d just learned that demons existed, how was he supposed to know what to do? He wasn’t even sure brute force was of any use against them. And most – not to say all- of his plans included brute force. Stiles was the plan guy, usually. It surprised him, how natural it had become, to have Stiles around, making plans, doing the research… Apparently, the kid had spent the whole day researching about demons. Derek was slowly realizing that Stiles was part of his pack, maybe even more than Scott. Scott’s loyalty was to Allison, and at first, Derek thought Stiles’ loyalty was to Scott until he realized that it had evolved when Scott had made the Argent girl his priority. Strangely, he couldn’t quite discern Stiles. Yet, having him around, and doing the brain storming before possibly dangerous events had become normal. When he got Stiles weird phone call, he didn’t hesitate a minute.

“I say I kill him now.”

He drew out his claws, but Stiles jumped between him and the demon.

“No no no! No more blood here! Have you seen the state of this corridor? My dad is going to ground me for the rest of my life, and that’s considering I find a proper excuse to give him. I agree with the killing, but let’s find a clean way to do it, OK?”

The wolf stepped back, exasperated.

“Right.”

“I was thinking… Salt or holy water. Apparently it’s salt that put him in this state. He’s already dying. We have to thanks the Argents for that apparently!”

But the demon’s breath was less rough than a few minutes earlier, and it crossed Derek’s mind that he might have a few healing powers like him. They had to kill him before he regained his full powers – whatever those might be.

“OK, whatever! But do it quick!”

He observed the boy running to the first floor, and coming back with a bottle of what was supposed to be holy water, while giving quick looks to the bloody body next to him. Stiles had a proud smile on his face that meant ‘This thing is finally going to be of some use!’.

Then Stiles had the very bad idea to jump the last stair, and landed on a drop of blood that happened to be big enough to make him lose his balance. He dropped the bottle of water and Derek was fast enough to catch it before it hit the ground, but not to catch Stiles as he fell directly on the demon.

“Aouch!”

“Stiles are you—“

Suddenly, Derek found himself hitting the wall behind him with violence. He shifted with the shock, and glared at Stiles whose eyes expressed perfectly all his anxiety and incomprehension. Then he saw the demon’s black eyes. They were open. And he had a satisfactory smile then was not reassuring at all. The bloodied hand grabbed Stiles shirt.

“How nice… of you…”

Neither Derek nor Stiles could move. The alpha looked around him with incomprehension. Then… Oh. Of course. How could he miss that? The demon seemed to notice that he just understood and started laughing.

The salt circle. It was broken.

 

* * *

 

 

Derek was laying on the floor, still unable to move. He growled, but that was all he could do. Stiles, who was still being held by the demon, looked at him helplessly. This was not good. Derek had no idea what was going on. The teenager didn’t had the time to explain anything about demons. If only he had answered his phone... He tried to move, but the demon noticed and pushed him again the wall again. Grunting with pain, the alpha tried to determine what could the demon do. The most logical option would be to kill them. Being this powerless, this vulnerable, was not usual for Derek, and he could feel the anger grow inside him. He would not die without fighting. Then he heard a muffled voice.

“Derek!”

And saw the black smoke coming from the demon’s host body’s mouth. And Stiles’s desperate eyes.

The smoke started enveloping Stiles and suddenly went into the teenager’s mouth. Derek heard a choking sound, as he could not see Stiles clearly with all the weird black smoke around him. But it was quickly disappearing, Stiles swallowing it painfully, crying with pain. Then Derek noticed that the grip of the demon was gone and he could finally move, but it was too late already. Stiles had swallowed all of the black smoke.

Stiles put his hands on his face, shoulders moving as he was sobbing. The body of the boy the demon had been using was laying on the ground and Derek could feel he was dead. Nothing they could do here. He got up slowly, starring at Stiles. Something was not right, definitely not. He took a step toward the boy, and stopped. God, he hoped he was wrong. He had to be wrong, because he had no idea what he would do next if he wasn’t. Taking a deep breath, he took another step forward.

“Stiles.”

“Oh hello there!”

The voice was Stiles’s, but the tone was not. Stiles – Stiles’ body really – turned to face Derek, but he was still hiding his face with his hands. This time, Derek took a step back. _Oh fuck_... Stiles moved his hands and looked at Derek, he looked and his eyes were entirely _black_.

“I was really planning to die there but I couldn’t let go of this occasion. God this body is sure nice!” Stiles’s voice said as his body stood up, observing himself with a grinning face.

Derek stood still, staring. Of course he was right. He rarely was, but when it happened, this had to be the one time he wished he wasn’t.

“You took control of Stiles’s body.” He articulated, because he had no idea what else he could say except stating the obvious.

The demon smiled widely.

“Obviously. What a clever werewolf you make! This boy is very clever you know? Usually we avoid too clever hosts, because you have to be clever too if you don’t anyone to notice that it’s not the same person anymore, but in my situation, it’s the least of my worries, and I do love clever people!”

“What do you plan to do with him?” Derek asked trough his teeth, his voice rough, cold, the anger building up inside him trying to break trough his skin, and his eyes glowing red with rage.

“I’m not planning to kill him right now. I don’t plan to kill you either, by the way. First, you’re a werewolf, and I’m a week low-class demon, and second, I _hate_ fighting. It’s tiring and not interesting at all. And this body is definitely not made for fighting anyway, so right now, I’m planning on having a bit of a sit up, enjoy the fact that I am still alive and have a nice little conversation with this boy because he’s yelling inside there.”

Stiles’s face was still covered with a smile. Derek showed his fangs.

“I could kill you right now. Expel you out of his body.”

“Oh as if you know how to do that! I know the boy didn’t have the time to explain anything to you! You are quite useless here I’m afraid.”

Derek looked at the demon, then at the covered-with-salt ground, then at the demon again.

Stiles’s smile faded. “Oh.”

“Yes. So you better leave now before I make you.”

“Oh _come on_! Can’t you leave me alone for a minute!” The demon yelled, exasperated, raising Stiles’s hands in front of him. “It’s not like I plan to kill anyone. I don’t want to make deals, to steal souls, to put curses on people or anything, I just want to stay alive, is that hard to understand?”

Standing still, but claws and fangs out, Derek followed Stiles – Stiles’s body as we walked in circle sighing deeply. He had to get the demon out of there. He couldn’t let such a creature take possession of anyone body. Especially the body of someone he knew. The body of someone from his pack.

He had always been conscious that having Stiles around was dangerous for everyone. Stiles was weak, even for a human, and there’s some situation you can’t get out of with talking. Derek knew that the moment he started considering Stiles as a member of his pack he was making complicated things even more complicated. Stiles as pack meant that Derek would not hesitate to risk his life in order to save Stiles’s, as he’d do with any of the betas. But Stiles had more chance to find himself in a dangerous situation than the others, and considering the boy’s personality, it always had to be this kind situation. The worst kind. _I should have told him to stay away. I was not – am not strong enough to keep a human in the pack. Not yet._ But he couldn’t. Having Stiles around, working with him had become natural. Stiles had always been here, since the beginning, with Scott, and Derek could not tell him to leave. They needed him. And it was hard for Derek to admit it, but he enjoyed Stiles’s company. The simple fact that a human accepted being around him knowing he is a werewolf and not minding at all, to the point of daring to provoke him when he felt Derek was being unfair - that was new, and quite nice. Not being a monster, for once. So Derek wasn’t going to let Stiles in this demon’s hands. He was going to take the boy back and make the demon see hell. Literally.

 

* * *

 

 

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. Stiles coughed, putting a hand to his throat and tried to talk, but his eyes went from black to... Normal.

“Derek” Stiles whispered with a broken voice.

And immediately, the werewolf knew that it was really Stiles.

“Stiles what the he—“ But he couldn’t finish, because Stiles started coughing again, but as Derek came next to him, he smiled as if to say it was all right. Which, Derek could obviously see, was a lie.

“I don’t think I can stay in control a long time... The demon, I can feel him in my head. He’s angry but... I was expecting him to be stronger or just more, I don’t know, evil? He’s desperate, I can feel it.”

“Stiles. What should we do?”

“Exorcise him. Maybe. Ask Lydia, she knows what to do, it’s all in the bestiary. You’ll have to keep me – us – locked somewhere because... I don’t think he’ll like the idea of going back to hell.”

“Ok, I, er, just... Is it safe?”

“What?”

“For you? Will it hurt you?”

Stiles laughed but it made him cough, and Derek noticed the hint of despair in his voice. Of course, with a creature of hell, it’s a whole new level of safety – from safe from getting hurt to safe from an army of demons or the apocalypse or anything of the kind. And safety has never been Stiles priority. His own safety. Which was the problem, because Derek knew that Stiles would be ready to sacrifice himself to protect the people dear to him, his father, Scott, Lydia and Allison... Stiles knows that Derek knows that he is a self-sacrifying idiot, so Derek suppose that he also knows that Derek won’t let him do anything stupid like killing himself in order to kill the demon.

“I... I don’t know. I don’t care. The demon is weak now, so you must act quickly. Just do what you need to—“ He started coughing more and more, and as his breathing became worse, his legs went wobbly and he fell on the floor. When he looked at Derek his eyes were black.

“What the hell is the kid?” the demon said, sounding annoyed and angry.

Before he could say anything else, Derek was on him, hands on Stiles’s throat, claws digging into the pale skin of his neck, fangs all out and eyes glowing red.

“You are not going anywhere, or doing anything.” Derek grunted.

Then he knocked him out.

 

* * *

 

 

The place the demon woke up in was dark, cold and wet. The first thing he noticed was the drawing on the ceiling upside him. _Of course. Clever guys._ So they locked him in anyway they could, he thought as he noticed the metal bars. The only light came from a tiny hole in the ceiling outside the cage. The walls and ground were made of rocks, and he could see a burnt metal bed next to him that he unfortunately couldn’t sit on, because his legs were starting to hurt. He wondered how long he has been here, but supposed it couldn’t have been more than a few hours, because it was still the night. Certainly they couldn’t keep him locked here all day. After all, the kid, Stiles, had a life of his own, and can’t just disappear like that. The hunters would immediately suspect the werewolves. _But the hunters possibly can’t know the werewolves know about me… They must think I’m dead. It would be nice if they thought that because that’s one threat I don’t have to worry about anymore_. He massaged his head – Stile’s head – and looked around him. They hadn’t left him to rot here, they had to be near. He wasn’t going to wait patiently until they came to kill him.

“I haven’t been enduring all that for so long to die at the end of a pack of teenage werewolves!” he said out loud, because the silence was starting to irritate him.

He wasn’t expecting an answer.

“ _I’d prefer not to die at the end of a pack of incompetent teenage werewolves too if you don’t mind.”_

“What the—“

“ _Yes, that me, in here. Still alive, still conscious even though I can’t do anything, I can still hear and see what is happening and also feel, by the way, I’ll have to say something to Derek about this blow, my head hurts!”_

“Oh god…”

“ _So Mister demon, I was thinking, since you’re the only one I can talk to and we’re locked in a very gloomy cage, and also probably going to die very soon, why not talk? Because, you know, I could feel that you’re very desperate and I was wondering why so?”_

“You don’t sound very scared to me, boy – what’s your name already?”

“ _Stiles.”_

“Right, Stiles, so you’re trapped inside your own body, said body is being controlled by an evil creature from hell, and by some miracle you’re still conscious. Usually souls go to sleep you know. Or we have fun with them. Do you realize that I could torture you beyond your imagination?”

“ _Well you haven’t tortured me yet?”_

“Don’t push me.”

“ _You’re a bit weird for a demon you know. You really don’t sound evil or scary at all. Also, you’re not very strong, that’s a bit obvious. My friend the werewolf you saw yesterday? That’s strong. Also, me. Maybe my body is weak, but I’m not in control of it right now. My mind though, it’s kind of like an engine working full speed. And I’m ready to use it to fight if I need to.”_

“You’re really talkative aren’t you?”

“ _Yep! So, are you going to explain to me what’s happening in the magical word of biblical creatures?”_

The demon stayed silent. He must be funny to see from the outside, talking to himself. That’s why they didn’t like the clever ones! Not that this demon followed orders and traditions to the word. Following is boring and dangerous. Or so he thought. As the kid said, demons are supposed to be evil and to like to hurt people. He, he was a poor excuse for a demon. He was lazy, or so he’s been told. The war, he wanted nothing to have with it, he really couldn’t care less. He was nice and cozy in a body he’d been in for years, girlfriend, family, cool job, collecting a soul or two from time to time so the others left him alone, etc. Then the girlfriend decided to go to California to see her cousin and when they stopped at a motel for the night, there were hunters everywhere! They were obviously not expecting a demon so it went all right but they drove to the same direction as him. That’s when he started being curious. What would so many hunters have to do in a little town in California? He reacted when he heard the name ‘Hale’ because of course, he knew about the fire. Any demon who has been to California during the past 6 years knew about the Hale fire. They were all quite enchanted to know that a human could be this evil. Also, the Hale pack used to be really powerful at a time, and all this talk about a new alpha only fueled his curiosity. Only, at some point, the girlfriend was start to be a bit too loud and questioning, and the hunters noticed him.

How he did not die, he had no idea. Everything happened so fast, and before he knew it, he was searching frenetically for a new meatsuit. Poor random boy who had just stepped out of his car to see where the gunfire came from. He didn’t saw it coming either. After that, he only trusted his instinct. Actually, he trusted them a bit too much because he found himself in a school that was stinking of werewolf without being able to control his anger, and ended up in a car full of hunters trying to make him tell what he was planning to do here. Of course, the answer ‘I was just curious!’ wasn’t enough. So as soon as he could, he ran. The rest is history.

“ _Oh. Well. And I thought I was the one who got not luck!”_

“Oh shut up!”

“ _So basically you’re just a random demon who wanted to know what was happening with the werewolves here? Well good job dude, you just got caught in the middle of it!”_

Yes, the demon had noticed that, he was not _that_ stupid.

“ _By the way. Does the demon have a name? I hope it’s pronounceable, not one of those old Christian names or one like mine.”_

“Only the oldest demons have strange names, and they don’t possess useless teenagers like you. I’m Thomas.”

“ _Hm. Boring name for a boring demon.”_

The kid was starting to be very annoying. That was not how he was supposed to react. He admitted he was not a very impressive demon and the fact that Stiles has been hanging around werewolves had to make him less scared but still… He – They were going to die.

“You realize you’re going to die? Not a bit scared or anything, really?” Thomas asked with Stiles’s voice.

“ _I’ve been expecting to die at any moment since my useless best friend got bitten by a stupid psycho werewolf. I’m scared 24/7.”_

Thomas looked at the symbol on the ceiling. He’s been sitting on the same position for hours now and Stiles legs were really hurting. The cage was still silent. No sign of any of the werewolves anywhere. Stiles had gone silent in his head. It must be weird, being fully conscious but not being able to control your own body. He wondered what he was like for Stiles’s soul, where he was, if he had a mouth to speak or if he was just thinking… He’s been a demon for quite some time now, but he still had a lot of things to learn. He was a curious being after all. However every single time he followed his instinct and let his curiosity take control, he ended up dead, in hell, as a demon, then trapped and ready to go back to hell. If it was not for the stupid apocalypse…

“What do you think of that?” Stiles’s voice resonated in his head.

“Of what?”

Stiles chuckled.

“ _You can’t hear what I think!”_

 

* * *

 

 

It was definitely the strangest thing that ever happened to Stiles. It was like… Like darkness. Like infinite darkness. Everything around was black. He could see himself, but nothing more. There was no light, no change in the infinity that was possibly the inside of his soul. Or something like that, he could only guess. The weirdest thing possibly was that he could see, hear and feel what his body saw, heard and felt. But it was inside his head. Actually, that was the strangest thing, because if he was inside his physical head, and still had a head here – wherever it was – then it meant he has two heads. _Head-ception_. Creepy.

Stiles never thought he’d be conscious. The moment he had realized that the demon was going to use his body as a vessel, he had been sure it would be like dying. Because he was going to die, in the end, but he would have preferred not to have to endure the long agony of not being in control of his body. He had a short blank right after the demon possessed him. He remembered Derek’s face. He had an expression he’d never seen on the alpha before. A mix of fear and worry, and something like panic, hidden behind his cold grumpy face. Then opened his eyes to the darkness and heard the demon laugh.

It’s funny how glad he was that it’s been Derek who came. How safer he had felt. He knew that Derek would protect him, as much as he could. It was something he had only started to realize, that pattern of how they kept saving each other life. Stiles had started to admit that he _trusts_ Derek. He trusts him to keep him, and the pack, and everyone around him safe, or at least to do his best to keep them safe. Stiles’s pretty sure he’s the only one who noticed that part of Derek. Even after things calmed down with the Argent, Derek didn’t get rid of his cold-grumpy-alpha-werewolf armor, and it did not surprise Stiles, because if he had a past like Derek’s, he would never let his guard down. But he noticed, the tiny details that no one realize are important, or the ones so obvious even Derek don’t realize that he’s actually proving that he cares. Like coming to Stiles’s house in the middle of the night because he heard Stiles’s breathe on the phone and it sounded weird. Or trying to convince Stiles not to sacrifice himself. _As if I has going to listen to that_ , he smiled.

 

* * *

 

 

Derek had stayed silent as they brought Stiles's unconscious body into the basement of the Hale house. Even if the cages had been built for werewolves, he had not been sure that it could handle a demon. Hopefully for him, Lydia had been doing her research. Still, it didn't mean they were safe. That Stiles was safe. Lydia, he had seen again a demonstration of her intelligence, had brought her computer with her, and put it in front of the cage Stiles was in. At least they could see Stiles now, without being close to him. Derek had forbidden the pack to come close to him, despite Scott's protestations. There was no way he would risk another of member of his pack's life. He was going to get Stiles out of this. To get the demon out of Stiles's body. He had to.

“He's awake!”

That was Scott's voice. Derek had been sitting, eyes closed, in front of the computer. He opened his eyes slowly, took a deep breath and stared at the screen. He didn't know what he expected. Stiles's eyes were still black.

“Where are you with the exorcism?” He asked Lydia. She had explained how it worked, and thought that she could do it, but she couldn't be sure Stiles would get out of it unarmed. Despite that, Derek agreed to let her learn it. They might have no other option at some point.

He wished that Stiles was here. Stiles would have a plan, certainly crazy, obviously dangerous for himself, but he always had a plan. He'd knew what to do that would be the best for everyone, because he cared about them. Sometimes, Derek thought that Stiles even cared about him. He was such an idiot.

Lydia arrived from the kitchen with several bottles of holy water that she had found god-knows-where. He stood up and met her eyes. It was time.

“Lydia and I are going down.” he told Scott, Isaac, Erica and Boyd. “You four are staying there, if something goes wrong, you'll see it on the computer or hear it. Kept your phones near you.”

Scott's eyes turned gold.

“I want to talk to him! I want to be here! He's my best friend!”

“And that's why you're not going. If we have...” He breathed heavily. “If we have to hurt him in order to make the demon leave, you'll react badly and mess the whole thing up. You're not going.”

“If you hurt him...” Scott grunted.

“If I have to hurt him for him to live, I will. And believe me, I'll hate it. But if it means saving his life, I'll do it.”

It was certainly a bit too much, but at least Scott went silent.

Lydia took a bag containing some stuff (Derek had no idea what it was for) and several books. She put a hand on his shoulder, and only then he realized how tense he was, and that he was fighting not to let his claws out.

“Let's go.” She said sweetly. He glared at the pack on last time before going into the depths of his house. 


	2. Can you hear my heart?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles's got a plan. Derek doesn't approve, but do they have a choice?
> 
> Cunning plans, fights, blood, Latin, and more demons!

 The apocalypse was not a reassuring thought. Especially when you were caught in the middle of it. Stiles agreed that knowledge is power, but this one time, he would have preferred to stay ignorant. Werewolves could stay out of it, out of the war, if they were not called by their Alpha. Not the pack Alpha like Derek, but the Alpha of all werewolves, the first werewolf ever. Since they hadn't heard of it, Stiles supposed they were safe. But the demons, apparently, didn't have a choice. And deserters were not really popular. Others will come, the demon – Thomas, said. They will come for him, either to get him back in the battlefield or to kill him. More likely kill him. And since demons are nasty, they were not going to let the pack alone. That worried Stiles more than anything. He had come up with the idea that they wouldn't be in a too deep shit once he was gone, since they had Lydia now, but what could they do against demons? He knew he wouldn't be of a big help, as Derek told him multiples times, he was weak. Only human. But he had a brain and knew how to use it and how to talk, and he'd decided long ago that he was not going to stay in the background. And since it seemed that demons like to talk, he was going to talk, and he was going to do something really useful for once.

“ _Say, what if we could both stay alive?”_

“What?” Thomas said, breaking the silence of the cave.

“ _I was thinking, you don't seem to like other demons a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean a very very big lot. You don't seem to care about the war or whatever. But they won't let you in peace, because they know you're here. So what if you could go somewhere they wouldn't find you. Where you could really stay out of all this mess?”_

“What are you talking about? I'd have to find another vessel. Meatsuit. Body. Which is not easy, considering people are rarely OK with having someone they know being possessed.”

“ _I'm pretty sure there's several ways of finding a safe vessel. Maybe someone who just died? Or better, a still born baby : it didn't even exist. There wouldn't be anyone to say that it's possessed since they wouldn't have another personality to compare you with!”_

“Yeah, I already thought of that. But do you have any idea of how _boring_ it is to play the baby? And, anyway, why would I want to leave your body? I do like it. You're not as weak as you seam, really. I wonder what that werewolf would say if he saw you naked. Or that pretty girl...”

“Wha-- WHAT?”

If a soul could blush, Stiles's just did.

“I have access to certain of your memories and I have to say, some are really interesting...”

At that moment, Stiles and Thomas heard a door opening through the same ears. Their eyes followed Derek and Lydia as they entered to room and stood in front of the bars. 

“Oh my! Look who's there! We were just talking about you.”

“Shut up, demon.” Derek said, cold and distant, not looking at Stiles's eyes.

“I have a name, you know. It's Thomas. I don't like to be called 'demon', I'm not really in, how can I put this... Good terms with my... Colleagues.”

Lydia started opening the pack and taking out its content. Thomas followed her movements, trying to see what it was, but the darkness hid it from him. Inside, he heard Stiles saying _“Holy water, salt, Iron and all that stuff probably. Doesn't sound nice. She really don't like me!”_ and restrained the need to answer. Slowly, he stood up, facing Derek and looking him straight in the eyes.

“Are you going to exorcise me? Because our friend inside here might not like the idea. It could _harm_ him quite a lot, if you see what I mean.”

Derek sat down, eyes red and angry.

“What do you want, _demon_.” he insisted.

Thomas laughed with Stiles's voice. Really, wasn't it obvious yet? What a low class demon like him could want? Except staying alive? Nothing. But since the werewolf seemed to think that he was too evil to want something as simple as that, he told him, making sure to keep smiling while doing so. They didn't need to know how scared he was. But of course, Derek had to bring the clever girl with him.

“Pathetic.” Lydia said, not even looking at him. 

“Mind your own business, would you?” Thomas spitted. 

“Not smiling anymore, are you?” She continued. “In case you haven't noticed yet, staying in Stiles won't keep you alive. Because if Derek here doesn't kill you first, I'll do it, and the one alive in the end will be Stiles.”

“ _Wow. Thanks Lydia! I knew she cared about me a little!”_

Thomas couldn't help smiling again. Humans were so cute, so full of feelings. Demons only had feelings about themselves. They're not capable of caring for anyone else. But they could feel sympathy, or at least, enough curiosity to be able to fake care.

“You have no idea how excited he is, inside here! Both his crushes are here to take care of him! How nice!”

“What?” Three voices said at the same time, even if only two were audible.

“You know, if there's one thing this kid loves it's lists. He has tons of them inside here.” Thomas told speechless Derek and Lydia while taping Stiles's head.

“I especially like the one 'hottest people I know'. And I'm sorry Lydia but you don't come first.” He grinned.

He could feel Derek's anger growing with each word. 

“We're not here to talk about Stiles's crushes. Stop trying to change the subject.” Derek said, speaking slowly and definitely not thinking about Stiles having a crush of him. Not at the moment. He'll confront Stiles about it once all this mess will be over, Derek tries to persuade himself. He's still not looking into Stiles's eyes. He doesn't need to see his eyes to know it's not Stiles. He knows it way too much. The way Stiles talks, the way he moves, how he smell, how his laugh sounds, the rhythm of his heart... He only needed it gone to realize how familiar it was. How familiar he had let it become. 

“If you don't want to die, leave Stiles. Go away. Never comes back here. You'll be alive, if that's what you want.” Derek declared. But the demon only laughed again.

“Oh no I won't! Of course I could leave him, but I am too vulnerable outside of body. And I still wouldn't be safe. Neither would you, by the way.”

“What?”

“What with what? Is it the only word you know, all of you? There are other demons coming after me, if you haven't understood that yet! And even if I'm gone, do you think they'll leave you in peace? A whole pack of teenage werewolves! Oh they're going to enjoy killing you, I can tell you!”

“How do you...” Derek started, but Thomas continued.

“They'll kill your pups one by one, and they'll make you watch. Then they'll kill you too, possibly by the hands of someone you really care about. You see, the one advantage that I am possessing Stiles here is that no other demon can possess him, and I have to say, once they're here, that will be a good thing. Because if you haven't noticed yet, I'm really really _really_ nice for a demon.”

There was a long silence. Lydia was staring at Derek, eyes wide and a worried expression on her face. Demons didn't like the clever ones. She would be the first to die. Derek wouldn't move. His heartbeat had accelerated and he was thinking, thinking and trying to find a solution and _if only Stiles were here_. He dug his claws in his hands, blood slowly rolling on his fingers, drops falling on the floor silently. 

Thomas break the silence, again. Patience is not a very demonic quality. Or maybe it's just Stiles's body and the ADHD, or Stiles's soul urging him to put an end to this. 

“Stiles and I talked. And I must admit that he is clever, because he got an idea and I think it might be the solution you've been searching for. Good thing is, it include me, and staying alive, and I could be on your side with this.” 

The expression on Derek's face then was just too good to be true. If someone could be more surprised than the Alpha now, neither Thomas or Stiles knew them. But Derek controlled himself and his face quickly returned to the cold expression he always wore.

“I want to talk to Stiles.” He said, almost whispering.

Lydia shook a bottle of holy water as a signal. You don't have a choice, it said, we're in control. We won't kill you, but we will hurt you. Well, message received. 

“Since it's not in my interest to say no, I'm going to oblige. But I'm still there, and I'm still more powerful than him, don't you forget that!”

“Stiles. Now.” Derek grunted as he was stepping forward. 

Thomas closed his eyes, and for a second, the atmosphere in the room changed, making Derek shivering. Then he opened them again and...

“Derek!”

 _Stiles_.

 

* * *

 

 

“We don't have time. The demon won't be very patient. Listen--”

“Stiles are you all right?” Derek cut him off. He took a step forward before reminding himself that the demon was still in Stiles and that he couldn't break the symbol keeping him here. He regretted talking the second after he spoke, but it was too late to hide the worried expression on his face. He just sighed, meeting Stiles's eyes with his. He shouldn't show his worry to his pack, he knew it would only make them worry more themselves. It wasn't responsible... But was Stiles really pack? No. It definitely wasn't the time to think about Stiles's place in his life. As the boy had said, they have no time. He just... He need to know. If he's fine. As soon as he knows, they can't talk about more 'important' matters. That's it.

“Yes, yes I am! Listen, I have a plan and--”

“What can we do?” This time, it was Lydia who had spoken. At least, she took the time to look embarrassed. “Oh, sorry. Yes, go on.”

Stiles stared at her for a moment, wondering what she was doing here, and of course, couldn't help himself.

“Wow, I should get possessed by a demon more often if it gets the two hottest people I know to care for me!”

And suddenly, there wasn't a single sound audible in the room.

Stiles looked at Derek and blushed. They eyes met and Stiles really didn't wanted to know what the Alpha was thinking right now because _had he basically just admitted his crush on Derek_? As if he had been ridiculed enough by the demon! Derek would never face him again after this whole mess is over... Anyway, it was not the time for such useless things that are feelings. He needed to concentrate.

Lydia broke the silence.

“Well, humor is a sign of good health right?”

“Right.” Derek mumbled, looking away from Stiles.

Stiles stood up, stretching his legs and arms, looking around him curiously.

“So.” He paused. “You've met the demon, Thomas.”

Derek and Lydia nodded, careful not to stop him again.

“Well, as he said, there will be other demons. That's perfectly logical. And they will be way more dangerous than our friend Thomas. He kind of fail as a demon--” He raised an eyebrow. “Sorry Thomas but that's true. Or you wouldn't be stuck in my body, admit it. So. When the evil demons from hell – literally – arrive, we're going to use Thomas and his demon powers and knowledge to kill them, then we'll find him another safe body so he can go away and we'll never hear about him and, hopefully, other demons again. That's the plan.”

Lydia had started walking in circles, obviously lost in her thoughts. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, but closed it again, walked some more then turned abruptly toward Stiles.

“When are they coming? How long will this demon... Thomas right? Will haveHave to stay in your body?”

She sounded a bit worried but Stiles could see that she was not letting it take over her. As naïve as it might seems, it gave Stiles hope. Lydia was strong in such a potent ally dangerous situation, so he will be.

“He said he wouldn't be surprised if they're already here.”

“Already here?” Derek yelled, eyes red, teeth and claws out. His anger was palpable, even for Stiles. Or maybe it was only the demon's powers. He didn't care.

“Hey, calm down. Yes, maybe. And we need a plan. A clear, precise and _safe_ plan.”

They looked at each other. Stiles was standing still, looking at Derek with a determined expression. _Calm down_. He looked at Derek's hands and noticed the claws retracting. He sighed. Derek and him were definitely going to have a long conversation after all this mess. A very long one.

“So?” Derek asked, whispering.

“So you come here, an you listen to me carefully.” Stiles answered.

And as Lydia and Derek walked toward him, he started explaining his plan.

 

* * *

 

Thomas was back in control of Stiles's body when Scott arrived, breathless – from panic, not from tiredness obviously – walking straight to Derek. Of course, the demon's smell had alerted him that it wasn't Stiles anymore. He didn't even took the time to look at him, but he couldn't help to growl when he passed in front of his best friend's possessed body. 

“What is it?” Derek asked, sounding almost worried.

“We found other demons.” 

Lydia gasped. “Already?”

“Yes, well, Isaac found them when he went to buy something to eat... He ran away as quick as he could but he had the time to observe them from afar...”

Derek's shoulders tensed up. 

“OK. We're coming. And we're going to explain what we're going to do to the pack before doing our friend with this demon.”

“Hey!” Thomas yelled. “I still have a name!”

“Yeah, right, is it most-stupid-demon-that-ever-walked-the-earth?” Scott said, sarcastically.

“Stiles heard that, and Stiles is laughing.” The demon added, grinning. Derek had to stand between Scott and Thomas before Scott did something careless like breaking the bars and attacking the demon.

“Stiles's body. Remember that.” He grunted. “Upstairs. Now.” His eyes were burning red and Scott left, but not after sending a last deadly look to Thomas. 

Before leaving, Derek made a last warning.

“We have a plan. If you don't follow it, you know what will happen. And if by chance you decide to hurt Stiles when we're not around, I'll know it, and I'll take the time to torture you as you deserve.”

Thomas was still grinning.

 

* * *

 

 

“They are 4.” Isaac said, still trembling. “Three men, one woman. All adults. I didn't know them... I think... But I'm not sure because I couldn't stay. They sensed me, I could feel it. As soon as I passed near them, they tensed up and started looking around them...”

“Have you seen their eyes?”

Isaac gave a quick look to the door leading to the basement.

“Only one, and only for a second. A human wouldn't have noticed.”

“So?” 

“Black.”

The redhead – excuse me, strawberry blond- sighed in relief.

“Is... Is that good?” Isaac asked, confused.

“Yes.” She said firmly. “Black eyed demons are the weakest. Red or white eyes are way more powerful and dangerous... If we ever meet one of those, we're fucked.”

Scott coughed to hide the fear that was starting to build up inside him. “Thank you for the warning I guess?”

Derek had stayed silent during Isaac's entire speech. His back against the wall of the living room, he starred at his pack. This was new. This was unknown. He knew he was not the best Alpha. Hell, he probably was one of the worst Alphas ever. But he knew some things, their principal treats, the hunters... He had prepared them for that. They had already fought. But demons? He was doing his best to stop his brain from asking too many questions. 

_Are they ready? No, of course not. Am I ready? Do we have a chance to win? To get out of this unarmed? Will Stiles get out of this alive? What if they get hurt? What if Stiles get hurt?_ But he already was... Derek couldn't imagine what is was like not be in control of his own body. Not controlling the wolf was different of course, because it was still you. 

_They're teenagers..._ Of course they are. Even if they shouldn't have to deal with all this mess, they have no choice. It's the unspoken rule. Supernatural creatures deal with the problems created or including other supernatural creatures. Teenager or not.

The piece had fallen silent and slowly, all looks converged to Derek, waiting for him to speak. He was the Alpha, after all. He took a step forward, breathed deeply before speaking. This was it.

“You all stay here tonight. We work on the plan. Tomorrow morning first thing, we go _hunting_.”

 

* * *

 

 

It was seven in the morning. Scott was in Stiles's Jeep, heading to a little station at the end of the city to put so gas in the car. The radio was shut off but it didn't stopped the teenager to hum some melody, stopping from time to time to drink from a bottle of water that was on the passenger's seat next to him. Stiles was going to be so angry at him for driving his Jeep without his permission! His phone rang in his pocked and he slowed down to look at the message.

From : mom 

“Once you're back we're going to have a long conversation. Mother and son.”

Scott smiled and shut his phone. _If_ he was back they were going to talk. Only he couldn't tell her that. He had already sneaked out from Derek's during the night to put some salt around the house and holy water in all the bottles he could find. It was Lydia who had bought all the holy water. No one dared to ask were she had found such quantities of the thing. 

He stopped the car once he arrived in front of the station. It was deserted, as expected. 

The sun had not been up for long and the air was wet and fresh. Here, the smell of the woods was almost as strong as the smell of the city. 

Scott entered the little shop, grabbing a bag of crisps, and walked to the counter. There was a man here. Tall, a bit fat, bald, a cigarette in the hand and a bottle of beer on the table next to him. He hadn't even looked at Scott when he had came in, but now, he raised his head and gave him a broad smile.

“What can I do for you my boy?”

Scott gave him the bag of crisp and searching in his pocket for some money.

“Isn't it a bit early for a boy like you? I thought it was the hour teenagers went to sleep nowadays!” The bald man continued. 

“I'm a morning person.” Scott answered, face still perfectly neutral. 

“Ah, that's good, that's good! Better get some good night of sleep or you'll end up all tired like me! Tired all the time good old Jimmy! Even when I sleep! I'd love some muscle like yours here!” the man said, poking at the fat of his arms, smiling.

Scott gave him the money.

“You must be doing some sport to have muscle like that?” He stood up and came near Scott, observing him with shining eyes. 

“I'm on the Lacrosse team.” Scott said, stepping back. 

“Ah, I guessed! There's some strong guy here! The never-tired kind.”

The man was now starring at Scott arm, his muscles being clearly visible as he only wore a t-shirt. 

“You really... Have no idea what I'd do to have muscles like that.” He said, smiling has he gripped Scott's wrist. For what seemed like minutes, they starred, and the heavy silence was not broken. The man's grip became suddenly stronger and Scott tensed up.

“Actually...” He whispered, still looking into the bald man's eyes, not even blinking. “I do.”

The man's eyes turned black as Scott's claws and fangs got out and before the demon could move, Scott had his hands on his neck and blood was already flowing slowly.

“H-how?”

Scott couldn't help but smile. Lydia really was clever. 

“Oh you see, my friend had been feeding me with all those weird recipes of her all night long. It was disgusting but very interesting because as you noticed now, it enabled me to hide my smell. I couldn't say so of you. Man, you smell bad!”

“What... Are you gonna... do?” The demon gasped as Scott's claws went deeper in the skin. “You'll kill... That man with me...” He continued, smiling. 

Scott eyes went cold. He stopped digging into the demon's neck. 

“I don't know that man. I don't even think he is from Beacon Hills. But I know the people from this city. I care about many of them. And if I have to kill this man to protect them, I'll do it, even if I don't like it.”

“You'll be... A murderer...”

Scott sighed. _The demons are manipulative, they like to talk so they can win time_ , Derek had said. Scott had no time to lose. In a brisk, or even just quick movement, he took his claws out of the neck of the demon's meatsuit. For a second, his eyes lit up as if he had been hit by electricity before going all black again and he yelled before falling on the floor, blood flowing out of the body in large quantity, staining Scott's shoes. 

The body was still agitated by spasms, and Scott stood in front of him, searching in his pocket for a piece of paper that Lydia had gave him. He started reading as soon as he found it. He didn't had such a good memory as to learn a freaking long exorcism in Latin in one night.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis...” He started, not hesitating on the word like when he first read it with Lydia. The demon's body moved some more, and his eyes opened. 

“N-no!” Scott heard the demon's whisper as he continued reading the Latin. Suddenly, the whole piece was filled by that rotten smell, only much stronger than before. The demon's eyes went black again, and his body was shaken more. Then, he opened his mouth and... Scott jumped back, eyes widening as the black smoke left through the body's mouth. He couldn't help but smile when it disappeared. 

Scott didn't even looked at the corpse before leaving. He could already smell the other demons arriving. He had to hurry. But he had done his job. They were warned now, and they would take care of the body... Probably. The one thing Scott wished right now was for Stiles to be here. He needed his best friend more than anything at the moment. He couldn't help the wonder what that had made him. He had just killed someone, even if that person had probably been dead for while, the smell of dead soul was so strong (if a soul had a smell. He really only smelled death, but hidden, somehow, when the demon was still in the body.) ... No, he must not think about it. He did what he had to do. The demon was aggressive and clearly planning to possess him. He couldn't make the exorcism before weakening, and they had all said that if he had to kill him, he shouldn't hesitate. He didn't. 

He sighed again, started the Jeep and left. 

 

* * *

 

They didn't had to wait long because soon, the rotten smell of demons filled the woods. Erica pinched her nose and move her hand to signify her annoyance. Derek gave her a deadly glare. Then they heard cries. 

Derek moved quietly. They were in the middle of the woods, far from the city and not too far from the Hale house. The demons were not as clever as they seemed if they had all came here, in the werewolves territory. At the moment, they were falling right in the pack's trap.

There was a girl sitting in the middle of the way, and she was crying. Derek stayed hidden, not moving. Hopefully, the others understood and didn't moved either. The girl was dark skinned, had long curly hair and could be anywhere between the age of twelve and the age of twenty. She was barefoot, and she smelled.  
  
Were demons always this stupid?

“I'm lost... Please... Someone...” She gasped. “Help me...”

The woods stayed silent at her cries. Derek looked around him. It was easy to guess that it was a trap. It was way too obvious to be anything else. She wouldn't be here alone, she wouldn't take so many risks... There had to be others around. Isaac had seen four of them, and Scott already killed one, but it was perfectly possible that there were more. With hunters, the Alpha allowed himself to feel confident. With demons, he was always planning the worse.

“Help me... Please...”

The voice became a whisper, and the girl's shoulder stopped moving. Suddenly...

“COME ON WOLF! I'M WAITING!”

Derek almost moved and indicated his position in surprise, but managed to restrain himself. He couldn't help but grin. Patience was not his thing, but apparently, it was even less this demon's. He turned around an made a thing the wolves to move. He couldn't smell any other demons here, but you were never too careful. It was hard not to act spontaneously, not to let his instincts control his moves. But he had promised Stiles that he wouldn't let the wolf out, not until absolute necessary. They were going to stick to the plan, they had to. 

Boyd howled and the demon girl straightened, looking around her, eyes black and empty of any emotion. 

_Safe_.

Derek jumped from the behind the bush he was hiding in and fell in front of the girl, wolfed out and growling, eyes burning red with anger.

The demon girl nearly had the time to scream before he was on her. But as he dig his claws in her stomach, she dug her fingers in his. They both started to cough blood, and the girl was smiling widely... For a moment, a short but oh-so-long moment, Derek was scared. Since it was a demon... Would he heal? He stepped away from the girl, letting her body fall on the ground, bloody and still breathing. He put a hand on his wound, feeling the skin healing itself slowly. _Thank god_. He looked at the demon. All his instincts, everything in him cried to kill her, to make her bleed more for everything she did, everything she would do if he let her live. Controlling himself was hard. Unconsciously, his thought derived to Stiles. He had promised him that they would exorcise the demons if they could. He remembered Stiles’s serious face when he had tried to get Derek to speak Latin. The thought made him laugh, and before he realized it, his wolf had calmed. _How...?_ No, not now. He would think about how he just controlled his wolf by thinking of Stiles later. He had a demon to deal with before that. 

Contrary to Scott, Derek had taken the time to learn the exorcism. To learn several exorcisms in fact. Maybe he was being too cautious (it certainly looked like it from an external point of view as people -his pack- were more used to see him act instinctively, but he couldn't care less.), maybe he was worrying too much. He couldn't care less, really. Stiles wasn't safe. Stiles still had a lot of chance of dying, Derek still had a lot of chance of never seeing Stiles again... When had all this mess become only about Stiles? He was... The demon girl stood up, laughing out loud. Derek stepped back. Super healing. Nice. 

“You thought I'd be so easy to kill?” She asked, still laughing hysterically. “Poor stupid wolf. That's too bad you're not on our side as you were supposed to be. It's so much more fun! Being a good guy is _so boring_ , haven't you realized it yet?”

Derek was pushed against a large tree that was several feet behind him when the girl raised her hand. He hit the tree violently, groaning with pain, falling on the ground while the demon girl walked toward him. Her smile could only be described as purely evil. It scared him to know that such an expression could exist on a human face, even if it was made by a non-human mind. Soul. Thing. 

She stood in front of him, hands on her hips, looking disappointed.

 

“I hoped you'd put more of a fight... Obviously I was wrong. You creatures had become so weak since you decided to be nice! Boring!” 

She crouched and took him by the chin, raising if face. He coughed blood again, but didn't stopstaring at her with hatred. She raised an eyebrow, coming closer to him. The rotten smell was almost unbearable now, but he wouldn't look away, he wouldn't let her think he was this weak...

 

“You were so not ready for this.” She whispered in his ear. “I'd almost pity you.”

 

“I don't need your pity.” He grunted. “Because, actually...”

 

He catch her wrist, digging his claws in the skin without an hesitation to stop her from stepping away. 

 

“... I am.”

 

She gasped as he planted the iron knife in her stomach, just where he had planted his claws a minute ago. Her body fell on him, agitated with spasms. Derek did not lose a minute. 

 

“ _Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus,_

_omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii,_  
 _omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica._  
 _Ergo, draco maledicte._  
 _Ecclesiam tuam securi tibi facias libertate servire,_  
 _te rogamus, audi nos.”_

  
  


The demon screamed as he finished reciting the exorcism, and her black eyes lit up for a short moment before she opened her mouth, letting the black smoke out. Derek didn't dare move until it had all disappeared.

He sighed, pushing the girl's body aside. They were winning. Maybe, maybe there was hope, maybe they could win and no one on their side would die. Maybe he wasn’t' going to lose the family he had just found for himself. He felt his skin finish healing, and he regained his human appearance. The smell of death was becoming stronger and stronger. He looked around him to find his pack. It was not over yet. Only two were down, there were two more to go. 

 

* * *

 

 

Scott had said that it was too easy once and he had regretted it immediately. Stiles had said that everything was fine and had regretted it immediately. Derek had said that they were winning and had regretted it immediately. He couldn't find his pack. His vision blurred, his head was filled with a high buzzy sound, and he was having trouble breathing. The only thing he could smell was _wolfsbane_. The demon girl had not been a trap, she had been a test. God he could be so stupid sometimes. What quantity of wolfsbane were they using to be able to make him choke in the fucking woods? First he had to find his pack, they wouldn't resist as long as him if they were still around... He had to get to them, he had to get out of here and fast. The last demons had to be near. He could feel his knee trembling. _Stiles_... 

“Come on Derek! Move! Before he takes control again!”

 _Stiles_... Derek repeated in his mind. He couldn't open his eyes. He could barely move. He felt an arm closing around his shoulder, and a body forcing him to stand straight. Stiles's voice resonated in his ear. Was he dying yet?

“Derek! Fucking wake up you useless werewolf!”

“Stiles?” He whispered, causing his throat to burn painfully. 

“Yes, that's me. Come on, help me a little here. We're almost out of the wolfsbane’s zone.”

“How...?” Derek tried, but he couldn't finish the question. _How is it possible that it's you?_ He wanted to ask. Apparently, Stiles understood what he meant because he answered.

“I don't know OK? I saw you, and Thomas wouldn't go to help you so I sort of... panicked. And here I am.”

Derek could feel his body relaxing as they approached the Jeep. None of the other werewolves were here, but the wolfsbane was dispersed in a large perimeter so it was better that they had fled. 

The Jeep was being pushed as fast as it was possible to push the old car. Thankfully it had started raining, so the wolfsbane would clear off faster, but they still wouldn't be able to go in this part of the woods for a while – if they were still alive to go in the woods. Derek's breathing was almost normal and he could feel his strength coming back in his body. Stiles was just next to him and he was shaking, all his body was tense, he was grinning his teeth and Derek supposed that he was fighting Thomas who was trying to take control again. How has all this become even more messier than it already was? At least they had killed two demons, he thought. But two of how many...

Finally, they arrived near the industrial part of the town, and Derek smelled that is pack was near, hidden in the buildings. The air was heavy, wet, and his head hurts with each breath, but he had already fought feeling worse so he didn't worry. Stiles, however, was close to giving up. He stopped the car abruptly and looked at Derek, eyes red and tired, sweat on his neck, but smiling.

“You're okay?” He asked, with a tiny voice, almost a whisper.

“I should ask you that!” Derek answered, suddenly angry.

“I'll take that as a yes. Huh... I'm going to let Thomas in again, sorry... He'll be more use to you than me anyway...”

“What are you...” Derek started, but Stiles closed his eyes and the smell of demon filled the car.

Of course, when Stiles opened his eyes, they were black, and it wasn't Stiles anymore. _Fuck_. Derek thought. _I didn't... I haven't..._ Thanked him. He had started counting the number of time Stiles had saved his life, and obviously, this one was added to the list. Saying thank you was more complicated than it should be for Derek, but seriously, the kid has helped him so many time it was quite ridiculous, so he thought that showing that he was thankful once would do nothing bad. But he has been too late...

“Oh my god, stop looking so depressed! I know I'm not your little... Boy. Pet. Crush. Whatever. But it's not like he's dead! So can you stop being so bloody sentimental and can we get to work now?”

If Derek hadn't been so colorless because of the wolfsbane, he would probably have blushed. Thankfully for him, he was too cold for his blood to allow him that. He looked away, not daring to face Stiles and Thomas. 

There was a plaintive howl coming from one of the warehouse. Derek did not lose a second. Before he could realize it, he was already out of the car and running, almost completely shifted. 

_Isaac_.

He could hear more cries, and started to smell blood, but he was having a hard time localising where they were. Maybe it was because of the wolfsbane that was still in his blood, or maybe it was because the smell of demons was more powerful than any other here. The smell of rotten blood and pain and death and of something purely and completely evil. Derek didn't think he would ever ignore it, and realized that it was probably the point. 

Suddenly, he felt a warm presence at his side. 

“Erica. Boyd.” He grunted.

The two werewolves looked at him, eyes golden, teeth and claws out. 

“We can find him faster together.” Erica said, calmly. 

A feeling of pride filled Derek when he noticed his beta's control. There's two possible reactions with a werewolf when someone they care about is in danger. Either they go berserk with anger and worry, or they gain more control. He gave a quick look at Erica. She was looking straight forward, eyebrows wrinkled, fully shifted and in a unique werewolf way, beautiful. Derek was faster than them, but they were running only a meter behind him. Boyd was massive, all muscles and pure strength, but if he was having a hard time going at Derek's speed, he wasn't showing it. 

It's Erica who caught Isaac's smell when they passed another abandoned building. She stopped abruptly and started coughing. 

“D-demons.” She whispered. 

Derek pushed her in Boyd's arms before destroying the old metal door in a angry hit. 

“Don't come in.” He yelled, and they looked at him with a truly desperate expression. They knew they were in a bad position. They knew they were losing, they knew it had to be a trap, but they also knew that Isaac was here, that he was in danger, and that Derek would do everything he could to protect him. They knew they had to fight, that they would, until there's nothing to do. They were a pack, and they would act like so. 

And before they could blink, Derek disappeared into the darkness of the old building. 

 

* * *

 

 

There were three, plus Isaac. The beta was on the floor, breathing heavily, bloody and bruised. Derek immediately noticed that some cut weren't healing, and he could feel the faint smell of wolfsbane coming from them. A knife covered in wolfsbane. Great.

It was obvious that they didn't wanted to kill Isaac. He was a bet, an hostage, and he was of better use alive. Until Derek arrived anyway, because one of the demon said “We don't need him anymore. Get him out of my way.”

It was woman, tall and muscular, long blond hair and evil black eyes, red lipstick that reminded Derek of Erica (and that red lipstick was definitely a thing for evil _femmes fatales_ or something like that. Not that Erica was evil, but she tried to look like it, so...) and black nail polish. She choose her body well. However, Derek wasn't going to let himself be impressed. 

The two other demons were both men, probably in their thirties and quite fit. The fight was not going to be easy. One was really tall, with short dark hair and big sunglasses and the other smaller, with bright red hair and blue eyes – when they weren't black – and they made quite a pair. It was clear the the woman was the leader. 

When the tall man came next to Isaac, Derek grunted loudly, and surprisingly, the demon stepped back. The woman smiled and stared at Derek.

“I believe we have not been presented yet. Alpha Hale I presume? You can call me Margaret. Those two are Tristan and Boris. Not very clever guys, just enough to know who to side with in order to stay alive.”

“I'm not here to talk.” Replied Derek, ready to jump at her, all claws and teeth out, at any moment.

“Oh that's too bad. I hoped we could talk a little actually. Works things out peacefully, you know.” She paused. “I believe... You've got something of ours. We'd like to have it back.”

Derek couldn't help but smirk.

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Oh I believe you do.” She said.

They were both smiling now, in the most hypocritical way possible, and staring at each other without even blinking. Even a human could feel the tension in the air. 

“We were thinking about trading.” She continued.

“You have nothing to trade.”

“Well, you see, you were not planning on giving that little beta of yours back easily.”

“Of course. It's always about the fun isn't it? Never doing things clean and easy. You've been given the possibility to live another life and the only thing you do with it is risking it. How clever.” He grinned widely. 

“Ahah.” She laughed bitterly. “You think we're free don't you? You think we're here to have fun. You've never met any demons before us, did you? You don't know anything about us! You're weak and you're trying to play it _à la_ big bad wolf. But we're from hell. We've spent years and years in hell, suffering pains you cannot imagine. So a werewolf? Really not very scary.”

At the second she finished talking, Isaac moved. Somehow, the three demons have been standing back to him, and only Derek had noticed the werewolf slowly standing up. 

In a quick movement, he slashed the tall demon's throat and a stream of blood sprang in the air. The short demon was on the werewolf in a second but Isaac hit him in the stomach, digging his claws in the flesh, while the demons was digging a knife in his side. Isaac coughed blood but hold the two demons still. The woman had stepped back and was looking at Derek, fulminating with anger. 

“NOW DEREK!” Isaac screamed, and Derek knew what he had to do.

As soon as he opened his mouth, the woman's eyes widened as she realized what he was going to do. She took a step back, but Derek was walking toward her.

“ _Exorcizamus te, omnis...”_

He took another step.

“ _... immundus...”_

Suddenly, he was being pushed against a wall, meters behind him, hitting it violently, losing his breath with the shock. Isaac immediately jumped back from the demons who were a little slow reacting, weakened by the beginning of the exorcism. 

The woman, Margaret, walked toward Derek, slowly taking a big knife out of her coat. The metal was tainted blue, and there was still stains of blood on it. _Wolfsbane_. Derek couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He could feel something strangling him, like a giant invisible hand. He looked at Isaac and wanted to scream “GO!” but as he tried to speak, he felt blood in his throat. Hopefully, Isaac knew what he had to do and started running toward one of the possible exit. The two demons followed him, but it was obvious that they weren't as powerful as Margaret. She was right in front of him now, smiling and touching the knife with her delicate fingers. 

“You really thought it would be that easy? Coming here alone, how foolish of you!”

And she laughed as she stabbed his hand, twisting the blade in his flesh. He still couldn't make a sound. He only hoped that none of the betas would try to come in. That Stiles wouldn't try to come in. This demon was stronger, way stronger than Thomas. He wouldn't stand a chance against her and Stiles would be harmed in the fight. If there ever was a fight, considering how it was going, it was probable that anyone who tried to enter the building at the moment would be dead before being able to even say hello. 

Margaret took the knife out and stabbed him in the stomach. The pain was like nothing he'd ever felt before. It was burning, melting his organs slowly, wolfsbane spreading in his blood and stopping the healing process before it even began. So he was going to die here, killed by a demon and unable to protect his pack... To protect Stiles. A human in a weak pack was a bad idea, he repeated in his head. It has all started because he had foolishly thought Stiles wasn't important, and when he realized he had made a mistake, it has been too late. Stiles was pack, and Derek would protect him as he would protect his wolves. Well, he failed to protect both in the end...

He heard a voice over the drumming in his head, and it took him long to realize that it was Stiles. Or more precisely, Thomas.

“Hey there! It's me you came for, I'm here so let him go!”

Margaret stopped playing with the knife in Derek's intestines and turned her head toward Thomas. 

“Oh hello Thomas! How nice it is to see you! I see you made some friends!”

“Stop right here Margaret. A demon doesn't have friends. He only has tools. I had my fun, now we can leave. I don't want to lose more time.”

Margaret laughed, and Derek could feel her anger growing.

“More time for what? Tell me Thomas! You're such a poor excuse of a demon. Playing at having empathy, how boring is that. And because of _you_ , we've spent days in the shitty little town were nothing never happens because even the werewolves wants to be nice. _I_ have been sent after a little fucker that thought he could run away, and you know what they told me? Not to kill you! So I'll have my fun, thank you, and I'll kill whoever I want.”

If Derek could laugh, he would have. Was this demon stupid or something? She seemed to think that if they -whoever they were- had decided not to kill Thomas, it was because they were being merciful. To Derek and obviously Thomas from the face he was making, it was obvious that it was only because they had some form of torture more terrible than death prepared for him. 

Thomas continued talking, and Derek noticed that Margaret's concentration was drifting. The hold on his neck had almost disappeared, even if he was careful not to talk so she didn't notice. Thomas was bluffing. He had to. He couldn't change his mind so fast, breaking his word, and going to a pain worse than death willingly. Derek would not let him take Stiles anyway. 

Then, Thomas turned to face Derek. He was only a few meters away now. So Derek looked at him back, right in the eyes and what he saw... Resignation. Regrets. Remorse too probably. He smiled with Stiles' mouth and Derek took that as sign to act. 

In a powerful hit, he dig his claws into Margaret's throat and stomach. She gasped, and Derek felt the skin trying to heal but he wasn't going to let her, oh no. He hold her strongly, covering himself in more blood, his fingers playing with her organs as she was struggling against him. Stiles' voice resonated in the silent building. Isaac and the two demons were out, and Derek could only count on his betas to kill them. His eyes widened when he realized what Thomas was saying.

“ _Exorcizamus...”_ He started. And Derek tighten his hold on Margaret.

He wanted to speak, but he couldn't stop Thomas. This was certainly their only chance to kill Margaret. Only... As Thomas spoke, his breath became louder, and Stiles' face paler. 

“... _Ergo, draco...”_ He continued, and they all realized that Thomas was also exorcizing himself. That he was going back to Hell. A hell that would be more terrible for him than for any other demon. Derek smiled, and nodded his head. Thomas stared at him, whole body shaking and eyes as black as they could ever be. 

_Thank you._ Derek meant to say. _Because, despite being a demon, you made the choice to use your free will. Because even if I'll always hate you for possessing Stiles in the first place, you decided to trust us. Stiles is strong, his soul is. He proved it and he's not going to die. I, the Alpha of the Hale pack, will not forget what happened, and what you did._

And Thomas seemed to understand as he smiled again. He opened his mouth for the last word of the exorcism but no sounds came out. He was on his knees now, and Margaret was slightly shaking. Derek sighed.

“... _audi nos.”_ He finished, and both demons opened their mouths, letting out the black smoke in one united scream. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! This part wasn't very easy to write, but still very fun! Well, the entire fic was fun to write. The last part should arrive soon, I hope you'll like the ending. Also, thanks for the kudos and comments and everything. ♥


	3. Help, I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With stuff like demons, it's never really over.  
> Also, it seems like it's finally the time for everyone to face their feelings. Everyone being Stiles and Derek of course.

“We were at four on two, so it didn't take long. They weren't very strong anyway. Or very clever.”

Erica laughed and took another slice of pizza. Scott had been sent to buy food since he was the least bloody of all. They were in the Hale house,sitting in the living room, a huge quantity of pizza, pies and drinks on the floor, everyone sat around it, passing the pharmacy set to each other. They hadn't cleaned themselves properly yet, but they had jumped into a cold river fully dressed to take off most of the blood so it wasn't as scary a view as it could have been. Stiles was lying on the sofa, not talking and taking all his time to eat the same slice of pizza he had been picking at for the past fifteen minutes.

As soon as the exorcism had been over, he had fainted, and Derek, still very weak, hadn't been able to carry him. He had howled, calling for his wolves, and hoping they’d arrive fast. They dealt with the bodies and the blood after making sure Stiles was safe. It had not been easy convincing Scott not to bring his best friend to the hospital, but after all, Stiles had no physical wounds and Lydia said that if his soul had been hurt, being in a hospital wouldn't help. She had came to meet them as soon as they called her. She looked worried, tired with anxiety, but fierce as always, and proud to see that they'd won. She'd almost cried when she saw Stiles' unconscious body.

“He... How is he? He's all right? It's... It is Stiles, right?” She had asked, stammering a little.

Derek had put a hand on her shoulder and smiled slightly.

“He will be fine. He just need to rest for now.”

Shesmiled back, and they went back to work.

Isaac was in a better state than he should have been. When Derek had asked him how he was, with all the cuts and bruises that weren't healing from the different wolfbane-covered weapons the demons had used on him, the beta had only smiled. “It wasn't that different from... You know...” He said, with a sad laughter in his voice and as he curled up against Erica and Boyd.

Lydia always had the bestiary on her, and she was reading, sitting next to Allison who had arrived with Scott. Derek knew they would have to do something soon to make sure those events would stay in the past. Protect the houses of every member of the pack, the warehouse too, even the cars... But not right now. Right now, they had to heal, physically and mentally. The Alpha looked at Stiles. He hadn't moved, he had only finished eating his pizza and was looking blankly at the ceiling. Scott was glancing at him repetitively, but Stiles didn't seems to notice. He was breathing heavily, playing with his fingers, obviously not aware that the sound of his bones cracking was even more annoying for werewolves. Derek sighed and somehow, Stiles reacted. He turned his head and stared at Derek before whispering.

“I'm going outside for a minute. I need... Some fresh air.”

Scott immediately reacted.

“Do you want me to come with you? I mean, if you want to talk or just... You know, support.”

Stiles smiled, but declined and stood up to go out. There was a heavy silence in the room, as if everyone was holding their breath, they all looked directed at Stiles. The boy tried to smile, but failed miserably and just turned around and left the room.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a dark now. The night was clear, stars and almost full moon shining in the sky above the trees. The betas were asleep in the living room, curled up against each other in one huge pile of teenager. Their heartbeats were slow, calm, finally relaxed. Derek had taken place on the sofa after Stiles went out and was looking at them, hesitating between feeling annoyed at the teenagers taking over his living room or relieved that they were all safe. When he was sure that none of them would wake up, he stood up and went to the door.

Stiles was outside, sitting on the porch, looking at the sky. Derek had never stopped listening to his heartbeat since he left the room, and he knew that despite being “out for some fresh air” for almost two hours, the boy still hadn't relaxed. His anxiety was almost visible. He wouldn't stop shivering, his shoulders were tense with anxiety and his hands were shaking when he released them from his pockets. Silently, Derek sat next to him.

Stiles didn't even react. He gave a quick look at Derek and sighed deeply. Derek put his hands on the ground behind him, jerked his head back and stared at the night sky.

“They're all asleep.” He said softly.

“I know.” Stiles replied after a moment. “I stopped hearing voices. I wanted to go back inside but...”

“It's OK. You don't have to. Not yet.” And Derek smiled, turning his head to look at Stiles. Their eyes meet and Stiles smiled, a shy, discreet and sad smile.

“I”m... I'm fine. Really. I'll get over it soon enough. It's just... What happened. What could happen next. It's huge. Demons and all that. I wouldn't be surprised if there were angels too, seriously. It's not just werewolves and humans and a few creepy shape-shifters now.”

“I know.”

Stiles continued, ignoring Derek.

“Just, how many demons have we already encountered? How many times I could have been possessed already? Or my father? Scott's mom? Maybe someone close to us has been possessed for a while and once we'll come back home we'll met black eyes and...”

His voice was trembling now, and his eyes were wet with tears.

“If... If my father is... possessed or... Or any of you... I wouldn't... I couldn't hurt you. I couldn't...”

“Shhhh, Stiles, it's OK. It's OK. We're not going to let that happen ever again. We're ready now, we know what to do to protect ourselves... And your families.” Derek said more softly than he intended. Almost unconsciously, he put his arm around Stiles' shoulders and tugged the boy against him. He heard Stiles' heart beat faster with surprise but he didn't pull away. Instead, he leanedinto Derek, setting himself comfortably against the man's body, and closed his eyes. Derek found himself relaxing, and closing his eyes, too. They didn't say anything for a while, just listening to the night. The random noises of the forest echoing around them, Stiles' heartbeat resonating in Derek's head, slow and steady. They didn't count the time they stayed like this, not moving, warm and comfortable against each other, safe.

 

* * *

 

 

Explaining everything that had happened during the past two days to Scott's mom took longer than they thought, mostly because Melissa McCall was freaking out and they had to take several breaks so that she could take a beer, get some fresh air, or just think. Stiles had too admit that it must be a lot to take in at once, but they needed her support more than anything, especially with Stiles' dad freaking out even more than Melissa. Hopefully she would be able to calm him down. With demons around, Stiles was even less enthusiastic at the idea of telling his dad about the supernatural.

Stiles only knew it was lunch time because Mrs. McCall was cooking. To say that he was lost was an understatement. He had no idea what day of the week it was, even what month. He didn't know and didn't care about school, or homework, or anything that wasn't surviving scary supernatural creatures. He hadn't slept, obviously. Scott wouldn't stop giving him worried looks and Stiles did his best to smile every time their eyes met. Earlier that morning, when the pack had finally woken up, Derek had announced that they were not to be alone at any time until they had assured their safety. No one had asked where Stiles and Derek had slept, or if they had actually slept, and most importantly, no one said anything about the things Stiles and Derek could do alone, at night, when not sleeping... But Stiles had to be the only one to think about that kind of stuff involving the Alpha... Certainly... Anyway, they had asked how he felt, and when they all left, Isaac and Boyd patted his shoulder and Erica, Allison and Lydia hugged him. The smile that appeared on his face then was sincere and he felt himself relaxing a bit more.

Stiles and Scott left in Stiles' Jeep. Stiles complained loudly about the new blood stains on the seat, but made sure not to meet Derek's eyes. He had basically spent the night hugging him and sobbing into his shoulder and was too tired to hide his embarrassment. He had too many emotions for a while and was definitely not ready to talk about his seriously growing crush on the werewolf. Maybe after a week of uninterrupted sleeping, he thought, but right now, they needed to get a lot of things over with and the sooner the better. So they didn't lose any more time and drove to Scott's house.

“Are you telling me that I've been drinking holy water for two days?” Melissa asked her son, wide eyed, mouth falling open.

“No, only yesterday. I'm sorry, I didn't have the time to plan anything better.”

Melissa sighed and took another piece of chicken.

“Alright. So, Stiles.” She said, turning to face the boy. “I called your dad. I told him that Scott was really sick and I had a lot of work so you stayed to help. I hope that's OK.”

“It's perfect, Mrs. McCall. Thank you.”

Only a few minutes after finishing the dishes, Scott and Stiles received an email. It's Scott who heard the email alert coming from the computer on his bedroom and warned Stiles. Stiles checked his phone immediately.

“It's from Lydia.” He said, face lightening. “It's the exorcisms!”

“Awesome!” Scott exclaimed.

They sat down on the sofa and started reading.

“There's four.” Stiles said. “Wow, this one is really long!”

“Why did it have to be Latin? It couldn't be, I don't know, Spanish? I can speak Spanish a little.”

“Stop complaining and learn your exorcisms Scott.”

They burst laughing, slowly starting to feel lighter. They would be OK. They could manage this.

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles almost screamed out loud when he got Lydia' email, but it was 6 in the morning and it would be a bad idea to wake up his dad because of werewolf-related news so he restrained himself.

It was what he had been waiting for the whole night, without knowing exactly what it would be, of course, but in the last few pages of the Bestiary's chapter on demons, there had to be something about how to protect yourself of them. Lydia told them, before leaving, that she would complete the translation as soon as she'd arrived home, and Stiles had been impatient since then, checking his phone every five minutes. He didn't sleep, as planned. Scott and him separated as late as they could, but they were both worried about their parents and decided that they knew how to handle themselves well enough to be alone in their home for a few hours. Moreover, who would be stupid enough to target them when they're super aware of everything surrounding them and being more paranoid than ever. The number of things that could be considered as a weapon if you know about supernatural beings Stiles has on him is quite ridiculous, really.

So, around 6 in the morning, Lydia send in a email, with an attached file, and a sad face in the subject. Stiles' heart skip a beat but someone like Lydia would put an sad face if it was really bad news, right?

When he finished reading it, his face was lightened by a huge smile.

Surprisingly, the first person he called was Derek.

“Hi, dude, sorry, am I waking you up? Huh of course I am not, do you ever sleep? I mean, even in time of peace? Is it a werewolf thing?” Derek growled on the phone. Stiles shivered. He was feeling more anxious than usual, but definitely wasn't going to let it show. He still had enough adrenalin in his body to sound relaxed. Normal. “Anyway, that's not it. Lydia just send me an email and we have the solution to all our problems! Well, not all, but one of the biggest. And you're probably not going to like it because you're going to have to play the serious and respectful adult and be sociable and talk to people and that kind of thing. And also risking getting killed by my dad, Scott' mom, Lydia' parents and Allison' dad too, but he already wants to kill you so he doesn't count.”

Derek sighed and cut Stiles in the middle of a sentence. “What. Is it.”

He certainly didn't expect Stiles to sound so joyful, and heexpected even less the answer he gave him.

“We're going to have to get tattooed!”

Derek almost choked.

“W-what? Stiles, you're sixteen! You can't get tattooed!”

“No, you don't understand. That's the saving-us-all thing! It's an anti-possession tattoo! You got that on you, you can't get possessed by a demon. Ever.”

Stiles heard Derek stop breathing at the end of the phone. Stiles waited. And waited. And waited.

“Dude, are you still alive?”

“I'm coming. Don't move.”

“Dude, it's 6am, there's no way I'm leaving my room.” Stiles replied, but Derek had alreadyhung up.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on Stiles' window.

“Come in.” Stiles whispered, and shaked his hand lazily to Derek.

“So...” He started as he sat on Stiles' bed, right next to the teenager, and stared at the computer opened in front of him.

“Shhh! My dad is still sleeping and he needs his rest, so lower your voice!”

Derek immediately closed his mouth and looked away from Stiles, immediately thinking that he should question the boy' order. A legitimate order that is, but still. Derek is the alpha. And – oh fuck, he didn't have time for this little game of power. He didn't even want it. He didn't need it. Not with Stiles. That was the thing with this boy. Derek didn't feel the need to show that he's in charge, because it wasn't important, even when he isn't, it wasn't a problem. He's not worried when Stiles is in charge. He trusts him.

“So.” He started again after taking a long, deep breath. “What is it?”

Stiles' face lightened with excitement. He opened a file on his computer and a weird drawing that looks definitely related to the occult appeared on the screen.

“This.” Stiles announced proudly. “Is an anti-possession tattoo. Lydia and I verified it, it's two hundred percent working. With that tattooed, you can't be possessed by a demon. Ever. They'd have to take the tattoo off you to possess you. Like burn it. But we're not going to let that happen of course.”

The werewolf tried his best to hide is excitement, but really, he wasn't expecting such good news. was so relieved he kind of wanted to hug Stiles, and for a minute, it was hard to take his eyes off the boy.

They were sitting next to each other, their thighs almost touching, and it was as awkward as it could be. They both knew that the other knew that they hadn't forgotten the past night they've spent against each other in front of the Hale house. They also both knew that the other wouldn't ever use the word hugging despite the fact that it being exactly that.

“Stiles.” Derek's voice was strangely hoarse and he tried not to cough or do anything stupid and obviously embarrassing like that. “That's... That's great. It's not going to be easy though. You're all sixteen, and tattoos for a werewolf, well...”

“Oh yeah, right! I always wondered how does it work? Since you heal and stuff. Like yours. How is it possible?” And Stiles' smile was bright and his eyes were light with sincere curiosity.

“You have to put wolfsbane in the ink.”

Stiles gasped. “No? Shit! Isn't it dangerous?” He looked truly terrified.

Derek sighed and put a hand on Stiles' shoulder. He felt the boy shaking under his touch but didn't move.

“No, it's fine, really. The quantity is really precise. It slows down the healing process so that the ink has time to be accepted by the body. It's just... Very painful. More than for a human.”

“OK, ok...” Stiles said after a short silence. “I'm glad it's possible. I don't know if demons can possess werewolves, but I'd just... I'd feel safer knowing you can't get possessed. All of you. The pack, I mean. Not just you you, I mean, well...”

“I got it Stiles. We'll all get tattooed as soon as we can. We'll be fine.” Derek answered, doing his best not to listen to Stiles' heartbeat speeding up. He took his hand off Stiles' shoulder and stood up abruptly.

“I'm going to go now. I'll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep.”

But as he turned toward the window, he felt Stiles' hand grabbing his shirt. Derek stopped short, feeling Stiles coming closer and pressing his face against his back, the warmth of Stiles' hands holding onto him spreading inside him far quicker than he wanted it to.

“Thank you.” Stiles' mumbled, and if Derek wasn't a werewolf, he wouldn't have heard the soft whisper vibrating with emotion.

They stayed like that, not moving an inch, for what seemed like hours. When Stiles finally pushed away, Derek didn't even dare to look him in the eyes before leaving because he was sure he would do something totally stupid and careless like taking advantage of Stiles' current state of shock and kiss him.

 

There were few things that could have make Stiles hate the Argents (excluding Allison, of course) more than he already did, but when he saw Scott's face when he showed him the anti-possession tattoo design, he knew it would have something to do with them and that it would make him angry.

“What?” He asked angrily.

“I already saw it!” Scott said in a breath. “Fuck Stiles I...”

“That? where?” He pressed.

“On Allison...”

Of course he was right. When Scott made that kind of face, it always meant Allison and _bad_. He took a deep breath, sat on the sofa in Scott' living room and rubbed his head.

“Ok. Explain.”

Scott looked embarrassed, worried and quite annoyed too.

“It's on her foot. Under it I mean. All tiny and discreet and apparently she had it all her life. Family tradition or something, she invented a pretty big story to explain it before she knew about the hunting but... She didn't know about the demons, she couldn't have known. I would have known if she had lied to me when she told me about it.”

Scott sat next to Stiles and they both sighed, perfectly synchronized.

“So...” Stiles said after carefully thinking over his friend's words. “I guess it makes sense that the Argents know about the demons since it's in _their_ bestiary but the fact that they didn't tell us about it – us, the kids involved in dangerous supernatural stuff that we should never have to deal with – knowing that we would encounter it one some day exactly as we did... I don't know, but they just came second in my list of people-I-hate-and-wish-I'd-never-met.”

“Who's first?”

“Oh my god, Scott, that's not the point!”

They looked at each other and a grin slowly appeared on their faces and before they realized it, they were choking with laughter, rolling on the sofa, and feeling strangely happy. Things were still not over, they were still not entirely safe, they would probably never totally be, and now they had to have a long conversation with the Argents about being responsible adults and how not getting killed by a demon is not something a teenager is supposed to experience alone, if you don't stop at just 'experience'. But they were all alive, and only two days after the events happened, it still seemed like a miracle.

 

* * *

 

 

They all got tattooed a week later by two werewolves from New York. Erica and Boyd hold hands during the whole thing, Lydia stood fierce and didn't tear up at all, saying it was perfectly fine, but Stiles didn't believe her because it had hurt like hell. But then she did it on her thigh and he did it on his ribs. But he had to find a spot where his dad wouldn't see it and there was no way he was going to get tattooed on his ass. The bestiary specified that the tattoo would stop being effective if damaged so ribs seemed like a better idea anyway. There's many situations in which an ass is not safe, no sexual pun intended.

Stiles hadn't intended to be alone with Derek in the Hale house, and he had no idea how it happened but when the tattoo artists left the place, the whole place became suddenly very quiet without the constant buzzing of the machines and it took a few minutes to Stiles to realize that Derek had been the last person to get tattooed. Stiles wanted to talk to him about the Argents and what he should say to them, how he should present himself – as the pack messenger? That sounded silly – and he hadn't noticed the betas leaving, Allison picking up Lydia and Scott, and he must have been lost in his thoughts because it was late afternoon and he didn't remember the day at all.

He was sitting on the stairs of the porch of the house when he heard footsteps coming from behind him. He stood up slowly, preparing himself to smile and act as casual as possible. They hadn't been alone together since the night after the events, and despite perfectly knowing that they needed to talk about _feelings_ , Stiles really didn't want to. Feelings were the one thing he really didn't want to talk about at the moment. He's been embarrassed and humiliated enough by Thomas the demon for the next ten years of his life. The whole point of having crushes on unattainable people was that there would be no shame and pain of rejection because there would be no asking in the first place. They were like a phantasm, the point of it being not to be acted upon. But he had started to really like Derek, way before this whole mess, even if he had buried as deep as he could inside him. At some point he saw that Derek was actually a good person, and how he cared about his pack, how he tried to do the best he could despite having no idea what it was, how he grew up and somehow became an Alpha who was still quite pathetic but who they could trust to keep them safe. How he had made Stiles feels included and useful. But it wasn't important yet. He had forgotten about it many times, had ignored his attraction as much as he needed too, and he didn't mind. It was normal, it was fine. And then Derek had started to show emotions, and to act as if he cared, and he had hugged Stiles and comforted him that night after the events, and everything Stiles had buried inside him that was already slowly dripping through his barriers had exploded and he had started to hope. But hope was dangerous, and he had to leave quick before saying something stupid like “I actually really like you, Derek, because you're a good person and you care for us, and you deserve someone to care for you and try to heal your wounds and I wouldn't mind being this person.” In the best situation, he'd get his throat ripped out by teeth. In the worst, he'd be coldly rejected and condemned to a lifetime of shame and regret. So the one thing Stiles was going to do at this moment was to turn and face Derek and tell him about the important things in a few short sentences and then calmly walk to his Jeep and leave. That sounded like a good plan.

The shirtlessness should have been expected but had been conveniently forgotten. The perfect abs were usual and shouldn’t leave Stiles as speechless as they did since it wasn't the first time he saw them. The lose pants worn as low as possible to show a bare hip with a brand new tattoo in the other hand were new and oh god. Stiles swallowed and took a deep breath.

“I, er, I will. I'll just. Go. Leave. Now. Ok.” Stiles stammered, trying to laugh his embarrassment off. Derek just looked at him with wide eyes and raised an eyebrow.

“Didn't you wanted to talk to me about something important?” He said while taking a step forward.

“Huh, er, yes. Right. Of course.” And he was starting to blush. _Oh god please no_.

It was in that kind of moment, when Derek didn't look like a werewolf at all, just like really hot guy, and talked to Stiles with a non-aggressive, almost soft, voice and it was way too easy for Stiles to remember that he was really just a teenager and that it would be really easy to let his hormones take control.

“So, er...” _What did I wanted to tell him already? Oh god I'm so fucked._ Stiles tried to looked away, but Derek came closer and put a hand on his shoulder. OH MY GOD. Stiles could swear his heart skipped a beat. They looked into each other eyes and the teen felt himself melting under Derek' strangely serious gaze.

“It's OK Stiles.” The Alpha said softly.

Stiles wasn't expecting anything in particular to happen yet couldn't help to be surprised by Derek' word. He looked at him, confused.

“It's OK.” Derek repeated. “We're safe now, we've done everything we could to keep everyone safe. You don't have to talk now. You can take a break. Talk when you're ready.”

He took his hand off of Stiles' shoulder, leaving a sweet warmth where it had been. He sat on the floor next to the boy silently. After a moment, Stiles followed the movement and installed himself against Derek. They stayed silent, and Stiles couldn't help but hope that this sitting-in-front-of-the-house-against-each-other-in-silence-watching-the-sun-set thing was becoming a habit, because it felt nice, and peaceful. He closed his eyes but he couldn't fall asleep. He let himself drown in the scents around him, the forest's, the house's, and Derek's... He repeated in his mind Derek's words, trying to accept them as the reality, even day after the events and repeating it all the time. It seemed more real when Derek said it, like he meant it. It was real. _We're safe. We're safe. Finally._

 

* * *

 

 

“It was weird, you know. Like, really weird. Not scary or anything. Just... weird.”

“What?” Derek asked.

“Being possessed I mean.”

They've been sitting in silence for approximately an hour now, and Stiles _may_ have fallen asleep at some point, but he was fully awake now, and so was Derek. Stiles' back was resting on Derek' side, they didn't look at each other, but they were close enough to feel each other's breathing rhythm.

“When I realized he had possessed me, I thought 'that's it, I'm going to die' and I couldn't help but think about all the things I didn't do, didn't say... Like, my dad, and the pack... And I expected to black out, to disappear or something. But I closed my eyes and when I woke up I was still here, just, like an observer. I had no control. It was weird.” His voice was almost like a whisper, but calm, not trembling with emotion like he thought it would be. It was much easier to talk about it than he expected. And strangely, it felt really good, like releasing another weight from his shoulders.

“How was it?” Derek asked.

“It was... Lonely. I could see and hear and almost feel everything you saw. But I couldn't make anyone know that I was here. I was... I don't remember it clearly. I could see myself, but everything around me was dark, and it was infinite. I couldn't feel anything where I was, because there wasn't anything to feel, or smell, or see, really. But at the same time I was still living in my body, just... Not controlling it. It's hard to describe. It was like being at two places at the same time except not exactly. And you know, the demon, Thomas, he could have done anything to me there.”

Derek shivered, which made Stiles stop.

“He didn't... He said he didn't hurt you. He wasn't lying. He didn't... Do anything to you.” The man' voice was trembling, and Stiles realized that Derek must have been wanting to make sure of that since the beginning but didn't dare to ask Stiles in case it was too soon. And it meant.... It meant that Derek was worried for him. Judging by the tone of his voice, he really was, werewolf senses were not needed to know that he was sincere.

“No, no he didn't! He really didn't! He just... Talked to me. Showed me things sometimes, his own memories. Made a big mess in my own, but he was just curious, and bored I think, because he just looked. He could have... I was ready, when I realized I was conscious, to endure anything. He had total control over my body and my soul, but he didn't do anything. I was ready to die.” He stopped again, because saying it out loud made it feel closer, more real. It hasn't been a dream. He has really been ready to die. “I... I feel like it wasn't real. I've been a big part of all of it haven't I?” He felt Derek nodding against him. “But I wasn't really there. I had never been so helpless before, never been so close to... die. I guess it made me realize a lot of things.” He laughed bitterly. “I guess it's what we call a life-changing event or something. Life meaning. Giving a meaning. To life I mean. Not that my life didn't already had a meaning, I'm not a meaningless person, or at least I hope so. I guess humans always try to find a meaning to their lives. Or to give it one. And werewolves too, humans and werewolves. But sometimes it's not really obvious? In fact it's still not, for me I mean, but now I get how mortal I am and I just... I don't want to lose time. I don't have super werewolf healing. Don't get me wrong, I love being human, I wouldn't change it for anything in the world, but it made me think that I have to be more careful because I could die so easily. And at the same time, that I shouldn't be afraid to take risk because it's the only life I have and there's so many possibilities, so many things to do and I shouldn't be afraid. Because, come on! Look what I survived already!” He laughed again, but it was lighter this time. He really had no idea why he was telling Derek all this but he definitely fell better. Derek didn't seems to mind. He didn't said anything, he did not complain, did not judge. He just listened and that was exactly what Stiles needed. Stiles moved to sit next to Derek because his bony back against Derek' muscular shoulder is not the most comfortable position, and now their arms and thighs brushing against the other's, and wow, that's definitely much more comfortable and they're touching way more now than they were and Stiles doesn't know if he should listen to reason and back up or just lean into the man's body. As it could be simple, his brain decided to make him do both at the time, which resulted in him moving forward instead of away.

It was an accident that neither of them could predict, but after reflection, they both decided that the timing wasn't so bad.

Somehow, Stiles and Derek had decided to react at the same time and to have the exact same reaction that consisted in turning to face each other. Except that Stiles had moved forward quite abruptly and that they hit their forehead and that instead of whining, Stiles started blushing because his and Derek' lips weren't even a inch away. And that Derek wasn't moving, either. Stiles was breathing slowly, staring at Derek' mouth since there was no way he was going to look into the man' eyes, afraid that anything he could do would break the moment. He had no idea how long they stayed like this, breathing on each other' face, so close and yet... Stiles wanted to lean in, wanted more than anything to put his lips on Derek's, and his heart was beating so fast, his cheeks were hot and _Derek was licking his lips_ and...

Derek kissed him, and it was nothing Stiles could have imagined, it was way way better than that, it was _amazing_. The kiss was strangely sweet and tender, at first almost shy, only lips softly touching, then Stiles closed his eyes and leaned in and felt Derek' hands cupping his jaw and the kiss deepened. It was wet but slow, all tongues and lips and biting, but without urge. Like they had all the time in the world to discover and taste each other. Stiles' mind was blank, he couldn't concentrate on anything else than Derek' warm lips on his, on Derek' tongue brushing against his teeth, on Derek' hand stroking his cheeks softly, on his own hands that moved to Derek' hips almost unconsciously and generally on the warmth of Derek' body against his.

They kissed for god knows long, but it's only when Stiles' phone rang that they separated. It was really dark outside, but they were close enough to see each other clearly. Not that Derek would have problem seeing in the dark, with the werewolf senses and everything. But for Stiles, to be able to notice the blush on Derek' cheek, and to see his flushed lips, still red and wet, and his eyes glowing affectionately, it was important and it made his heart beat faster again. It was hard to search in his pocket for his phone and looked at his messages when he wanted nothing more than to go back to kissing Derek. They stayed silent while Stiles replied to his dad asking what he wanted for dinner. He didn't dare answer that he wouldn't be there for diner. Probably. At least he hoped so. He looked at Derek. The expression on the man' face was utterly confusing, a mix between want and fear.

“Derek, I...”

But he didn't know what to say. His mind was still foggy with the memory of the kiss. He didn't even know what he felt for Derek, if he was in love, if he wanted to be in a relationship with the man or not... Being a teenager, he only had the experience of a teenager on those subjects, more precisely the one of an awkward teenager who haven't dated anyone since he was 8 and who hadn't had any feelings of any kind for anyone else than Lydia Martin for years. Feelings that were definitely different than the absolute and immediate need he felt for Derek right now. And that sensation of comfort and safety he had started to feel a while ago. No, forget what had be said, he totally knew if he wanted to be in a relationship with Derek. It wouldn't be easy, because they both had issues, Derek certainly more than him, and they both had their secrets that would need to be shared in order to have a healthy relationship but they could work it out. Stiles wanted to believe that they could help each other. Maybe even make each other happy. And that was only talking about the feelings because if they continued to kiss like that, it would definitely make Stiles' body happy. And they did more than kissing... OK, he had lost his train of thought again.

“Is it OK if...”

“Stiles, I'm...” Derek cut him off. “I'm not sure it's a good idea. We shouldn't... I can't...”

“What.” Stiles asked firmly. If they were going to talk about it now, they were going to do it well now and not walk around the subject for hours. He wasn't a patient boy, and he really wanted to go back to kissing as fast as possible.

“I have... Issues. I'm not... I'm not good at this. I could hurt you, even if I wasn't a werewolf and way older than you.”

“If that's worrying you, know that I am able to give my consent and that my dad won't shoot you if we keep things I'm not supposed to be doing as long as I'm under-age secret. Probably. Plus the age of consent in sixteen in like, ninety percent of the world.”

Derek blushed at the mention of “things they're not supposed to be doing as long as Stiles is under age” and Stiles couldn't help but smile.

“No that's not... “

“Derek.” Stiles said, voice shaking, but loud and firm. Better go straight to the point. “Just... Do you want to date me? Because I do. Want to date you, I mean. I... I think we could work. It won't be easy, because we obviously both have a lot of issues, the first you have being words apparently, but I... I like being with you. I feel good around you. Safe. I trust you.” Derek shivered at those words but Stiles pretended not to notice. “And I obviously find you hot because, well, have you seen yourself? And even if I find it hard to believe that you would be interested in a skinny teenager like me, I take the absolutely amazing kissing we just had as a sign that you are. So...” His voice softened then, becoming almost a whisper. “Do you... Do you want it...” And oh god, Derek' eyes were so bright and full of hope and it was all Stiles could do to not jump on him right now and kiss the hell out of him again.

There was a silence during which Stiles could have died ten times until Derek whispered “OK...”

“Really?”

Derek looked so different than usual. Not weak but... More human. He was showing what he felt, obviously not feeling the need to hide his emotions in order to protect himself, and it somehow made Stiles happy because it meant that Derek felt as safe around him that he felt around the Alpha.

“Yeah...” Derek said, looking away from Stiles... Shyly? No, Stiles was still not ready to think of Derek as shy. But he was sure he could get around the idea with time. “I want to. I really do.” Derek continued, and put his hand on Stiles' thigh. “I've got more issues than you can imagine though. It's not going to be easy. If we... Date. If you date me.”

“I know, I got that, I told you. So... We're a thing now? For real?”

Derek's grip tightened.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Cool!” And Stiles put his arms around Derek' neck and leaned him to kiss him again.

 

* * *

 

A month later.

The first thing Sheriff Stilinski noticed was the hickey in his son' neck, carefully hidden by a scarf. He had noticed it because Stiles never wore scarf, so it had to mean something. He noticed the tattoo soon after, since the red mark had given him a good reason to observe the boy more. He tried to be a good father and not to push his son too much, but there was only so much freedom a teenager could get before his parents worried, and well, the sheriff was human after all, and humans are curious. He didn't ask about it immediately though, because he wanted to give Stiles a chance to start the conversation himself, but mostly, it was because he knew the conversation would be awkward and preferred to delay it as much as possible. When he saw Stiles going in the car of a former murder suspect, he knew he couldn't wait anymore.

“ _Be at home at 7 tonight. Be ready for a long conversation.”_

Stiles looked at the text message and blinked twice.

“Huh. OK. I think my dad might have noticed something. I don't know if it's about werewolves, or the tattoo, or a big gay thing with a former murder suspect.” He told Derek who was driving his Camaro to the Hale house for the weekly 'Pack meeting' as Stiles called it. “Actually, I hope it's about the werewolves. Last time I had a sex talk with my dad, it went terribly. You don't want to know. But it involved Science books, and a list of different condoms sizes and the address of all the sex shops in town. It was creepy.”

“I imagined that your dad would be pretty cool with that subject. He seems open minded.” The werewolf said calmly, not looking away from the road.

“Oh, he is! But he doesn't like to go into details... It was just really awkward for both of us, especially since I didn't had a sex life then and everything I knew I knew it from the internet.”

“Huh. Not sexy.”

“Hey!” Stiles yelled, punching Derek in the shoulder and trying his best to look offended. Apparently it wasn't very convincing because Derek just laughed.

They had come a long way in one month, they couldn't quite believe it themselves. It was mostly because Stiles insisted to have “talk times” as soon as he felt some tension between them. It hasn't been easy, especially when Derek had started talking about Kate. Stiles had cried then, and he had never wanted to hug Derek more in his life.

“It's so fucked up. It's... I knew she was a monster, but I had no idea it was to this point. She's worse than a demon, way worse.” He had said between sobs. “If she wasn't already dead, I would kill her. I would fucking kill her...” Then Derek had tightened the hug and they had both cried in silence before falling asleep in Stiles' bed.

They didn't talk about it anymore but it was obvious that Derek felt lighter after talking about it. No more secrets, they had said, and the trust they showed for each other seemed surreal when you compared it to how they acted when they just met. Of course, there were still secrets to tell, and they would probably be new ones, but they worked on it pretty well. For the first time for months, Stiles felt trusted and loved and cared for, and if there were still trust issues to resolve, they concerned more Stiles and his dad. But Derek smiled more, which already made him really happy. Actually it all seemed surreal to Stiles but he was not going to try to come back to what used to be his reality.

Lydia and Erica had suddenly became friends and Stiles was sure that it was the worst thing that had happened in a month because, seriously, alone they were already quite evil, but together? You didn't want to be near them when they were in a good mood because it meant endless teasing of the worse kind that even Stiles was having a hard time finding comebacks to. Both girls had strong personalities and you could think that they wouldn't like each other – which is what happened at the beginning – but they found a common interest in teasing Stiles about his relationship with Derek and it brought them closer.

Derek and him hadn't been able to hide their relationship to the pack for more than two days. Not that they wanted to, really, but it had been awkward. Mostly because Scott was having trouble understanding how Stiles had went to wanting Derek dead to loving him. He had gotten over it after an hour and been very supportive since then. Everyone had been fine about it. Especially because they had thought that Derek would soften and slow down with the trainings they had established which were pretty harsh, even for werewolves. He didn't, of course, and Stiles had almost been blackmailed to convince the Alpha to be nicer with his betas. It had ended up with Stiles being forced to participate in the trainings and he hadn't talked to any of the betas for three days. Three days of not talking were very long for Stiles. It had been compensated with twice more kissing with Derek of course.

They had met demons twice since the events. The first one had been easy to take down but it was still a bad memory for the pack. It was Boyd and Erica who had noticed it. They rarely went to this part of town but apparently there was a new coffee shop that had opened and Erica had taken Boyd on a date there on a Sunday afternoon. The coffee shop was near a park full of children playing happily in the sun. But the smell was omnipresent. They had spent the rest of the afternoon searching for the demon, smelling all the adults in the street before realizing that it was a little girl no more than 8. Exorcizing her in public was impossible and somehow Erica got an idea who made her number three on the list of best strategist of the pack – made by Stiles obviously, the first being him and the second Lydia, and that was only because he had been there before Lydia. Somehow, Erica had managed to talk to the mother of the girl and two days later, herself and Lydia had spent the night at her house for some babysitting. Installing a devil's trap in a stranger's house wasn't easy but they managed to catch the demon in the little girl's bed and to exorcize her. The most terrifying part had been not knowing in which state the little girl's soul would be in. If there was still a soul. Luckily, the little girl had woken up after two hours of unconsciousness and Lydia had called the hospital explaining that the girl hurt her head by falling of her bed.

The second demon they met had been way scarier but less violent. She actually came to them directly.

One morning, three weeks after the events, a woman presented herself at the Hale house. She was pale, with long blond hair, and in her mid-thirties. She was wearing sunglasses despite the rain and did a really good job at hiding her smell because Derek didn't realized she was demon before standing in front of her. He had immediately wolfed out but she had reassured him.

“I'm not here to fight Hale. Don't worry, I won't hurt your little pack.”

“What are you here for then?” He had growled.

“I'm taking news!”

“What?” That had been Stiles, appearing behind Derek with a bottle of salt in one hand and a bottle of holy water in the other.

“You see”, she had continued “I have a friend in hell. Well, I say friend... Anyway, I saw him there and considering our past together, I agreed to do him a favour.”

“What?” That had been Derek.

“Yeah, a certain Thomas... I believe one of your pack mates was very close with him a while ago.”

“Oh.”

“He wanted to know how you were doing. So here I am, asking how you are doing.”

She was smiling broadly and didn't seem ready to attack, but Derek was still wolfed out and Stiles ready to throw the bottles at her. However, they listened to her carefully.

“As you can see, we're doing really fine.” Derek had said, pointing at Stiles.

“Yeah, I can see that. Is that an anti-possession tattoo?”

“Yeah, it is. Demons better not mess with us now.” Stiles said, grinning.

“Good, good. I'm sure he will be pleased to hear that.”

And that was all. She left, and they never heard from her or Thomas or any demons since then. Stiles and Derek had stayed breathless for a minute after she was gone then burst out laughing to release the tension. Somehow it had lead to kissing and then a bit more than kissing but they had kept that to themselves when they talked about their encounter with the rest of the pack.

Somehow, their current problem was way easier than any demons or other supernatural creature.

Usually, Derek drove Stiles to his house after the meetings, but tonight, Stiles felt it would be better if it was Scott, because he was pretty sure the conversation he was going to have with his dad was going to involve Derek and he hoped that maybe coming back with his best friend would look less suspicious.

As expected, his dad was waiting behind the door when Stiles opened as silently as possible.

“Oh, hey dad! How are you doing? Did you wait for me to eat dinner?”

“Hello, son. Yes, I thought it would be nice, to have some family time together for once.”

“Oh.” Stiles knew perfectly what family time meant, which is awkward talk time.

They sat in the kitchen and ate dinner in silence. Take away, as usual. The silence preceding the conversation was already awkward and Stiles was constantly looking at his phone, hoping for an important call from Scott or anyone just to get out of there. No one called and his dad gave him his “we're going to talk and you're not going away” look. Stiles swallowed.

“So.” Sheriff Stilinski started. “What do you want to start with? The tattoo or the kissing marks on your neck and the fact that you've been having a lot of sleepovers lately? And it was not at Scott's, don't try to feed me that lie again.”

“I...” Stiles started, and oh god, he was so so fucked.

“Let's start with the easiest. So you have a girlfriend? Why didn't you tell me? You know I have no problem with that, as long as you use protection when...”

“No, no, we're not talking about my sexual life!” Stiles cut him off, almost yelling.

“OK. So, you do have a girlfriend? Is it the Martin girl? You've been hanging out with her a lot...”

“No, it's not...” Stiles whispered. He knew his dad was open minded, but coming out was never easy. “It's not a girlfriend.”

“Oh.” The sheriff said, looking less surprised than Stiles had expected. “So it's a boyfriend? You know I have no problem with that either. You could have told me.”

“Yea, I know I just...” Stiles started. “I wanted to be sure it was serious.”

“And it is?”

Stiles stayed silent for a moment, lost in his thought.

“Yes.” He finally said. “Yes it is. Because... I love him. I really do. And he loves me. So it is serious, definitely serious.”

“Good. I'd like to meet him then. Who is he? Beacon Hills is a small town, I must know him. Is it someone from school?”

“No it's...” That was the complicated part. Going out with a former murder suspect that you have yourself accused twice when your dad is the sheriff is certainly not the most clever thing to do. And that's without mentioning the werewolf thing.

“Son.” The sheriff said with a smile, trying to be reassuring. It only freaked out Stiles more.

“It's Derek Hale.” He said, swallowing slowly and waiting for his death sentence.

His dad' face at that moment was worse remembering. Stiles almost regretted not not taking a picture.

“You... You mean twenty-three years old former murder suspect living in his parents' burnt house Derek Hale or is there another Derek Hale somewhere who doesn't look like a serial killer?”

“Derek doesn't look like a serial killer.” Stiles said firmly. He looks like a predator, a wild animal certainly, and he can be scary. “And he was acquitted.”

“Riiiight. You know you're still under age right?”

“Dad! Not talking about my sexual life! Also, we didn't do anything illegal.” That was a lie but his dad definitely didn't need to know that.

“You said it's serious, so I'm going to believe you. Invite him to dinner tomorrow night, I want to meet him properly.” And despite the man' soft tone, Stiles knew it meant “He better come to dinner tomorrow or I'm going to hunt him through the whole town with my gun and you'll never be able to do anything illegal again because I'm going to shoot him.”

“OK.” was the only thing he could answer to that.

Despite the awkwardness, Stiles was feeling lighter already. Lying to his dad had been hard, especially about Derek, because it made him happy and he wanted to share this happiness with his dad. But Sheriff. And former murder suspect. So he had waited, avoided the subject as long as he could... He had secretly hoped that his dad wouldn't find out about it before he was eighteen but papa Stilinski wasn't the sheriff for nothing.

“So, now, the tattoo. You know that it's completely illegal and that I'm going to sue the guy who did it right?”

“Er, I don't think you'll be able to find him... He's not from around here and we... I've been careful. So , er, sorry about that I guess?” He smiled shyly. It wasn't nice to tell that to his dad but he couldn't risk anything, especially not the safety of the kind werewolves who had tattooed them.

“OK. Right. Then can you at least tell me why you got tattooed?”

“Er. Not... Yet?”

The Sheriff sighed, got up and went to the fridge to get a beer.

“It's more complicated... It... It has something to do with everything that has happened since last year... Can we talk about it next week or something? Please? So you can prepare yourself because it's pretty big. Like, really big. But don't freak out, it's fine, but... Please?” Stiles asked, doing his best puppy eyes.

They stared at each other for a while, Stiles shivering under his dad's cold look, until the sheriff sighed again and finally said :

“OK, fine. A week. But after that, no more lies.”

“No more lies.” Stiles repeated.

“You can go to sleep now. It's getting late and you have school tomorrow. Also, don't forget about the dinner.”

“Yes, right! Good night dad and... Thank you.”

With that, Stiles ran to his room.

He was not surprised to find Derek there, waiting for him in the dark.

He closed the door behind him, carefully locking it.

“You hear everything?” He asked.

“Almost.” Derek answered, walking toward Stiles.

“So dinner tomorrow?” Stiles said, putting his hands on Derek' hips.

“Dinner tomorrow.” Derek answered. “Should I wear a tie?” He asked, sounding worried.

Stiles let out a laugh. “If you want to! But my dad won't mind if you don't. Just try not to look like a serial killer OK?”

“OK.”

They were against each other now, hugging, and Stiles clung on Derek, finally relaxing.

“We'll have a meeting the day after tomorrow. To plan how to tell your dad about...”

“Yes, that too.” Stiles mumbled against Derek' neck.

“It'll be fine. Trust me.”

“It will.” Stiles whispered.

Then, Derek' hands were on his face and Stiles noticed how Derek' eyes were bright with emotion, hope and trust and he couldn't help but smile. He leaned in for a kiss. It was sweet at first, but it quickly deepened.

“Bed, now.” Derek said softly.

“My dad is here.”

“I know.” Derek laughed. “To sleep, I mean.”

“Oh. Well.”

Derek dragged him to the bed, still hugging him and installed them under the covers. Of course, they kissed some more. Stiles would never get tired of it, kissing Derek, the warmth of his lips against his, of his body tangled with Derek's, of the safety that he felt in Derek's arms. Of this constant feeling of happiness. At that moment, he believed every word that came out of Derek' mouth. It would be fine, it really was going to be fine. He smiled and started falling asleep. Suddenly, he felt Derek' lips moving against his ear.

“I love you.”

Stiles smiled. He was really never getting tired of all this.

\---

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed readind this story as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> Thanks again to [Margaret](http://frenchthecolfer.tumblr.com) for the amazing beta works, without her that story wouldn't exist!

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hesitate to tell me if you see any typos me and my beta reader missed!
> 
> It is completely written, although the last part still have to finish to be beta'ed, but there won't be a too long wait between the parts, I'll try to post everything as soon as I can!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed! c:


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